Over 400 Employees at Hrazdan Cement Plant Demand Salaries

In the Hrazdan administrative territory of Kotayk province, a large number of citizens have gathered in the yard of the Hrazdan Cement Corporation LLC, demanding that the management pays them one month’s salary as stated in their employment contracts. This was reported by Shamshyan.com.

Employees gathered in the yard told photojournalist Gagik Shamshyan, “For several days now, the management of the cement plant has been playing games with us. They probably know that this year marks the 150th anniversary of the great poet Hovhannes Tumanyan, and under that pretext, they keep saying ‘come on Friday.’ We’ve worked consistently with 380-400 people from morning till evening. What we want is what we have earned through our sweat. We can’t keep lying to the credit organizations, to the electricity network inspectors, and the gas inspectors like the management of this plant does, saying that payments will be made tomorrow. Not to mention, we are embarrassed to ask shopkeepers for credit just to buy bread. There are families with members who have health issues, and who doesn’t know that medicine is also paid? Without money, no hospital will provide medical assistance for our beautiful eyes.

Director Haikaz Hovhasyan used to be a remedy for our wounds, but now some person named Khachatur has come and is sitting at the accountant’s desk like a beast with seven heads from a famous fairy tale and refuses to pay the money we have earned through our hard work. It turns out that because of this Khachatur, we are crossing ourselves over our money and our labor. Our hope is with the government, which can intervene, solve the issue, and ensure we receive our salaries. We do not want any extra money; we simply insist on getting our salaries on time.”

The media informs that Surik Mikayelyan, the acting director of the plant, announced that they may be able to pay the salaries on March 5, justifying that cement is not being sold, and therefore, they are standing in front of a wall. This answer did not satisfy the employees.