City Hall on Drivers' Strike

Today, the spokesperson for the Mayor of Yerevan, Hayk Kostanyan, made a post on his Facebook page regarding the unexpected strike of bus drivers.

“Dear residents of Yerevan, esteemed colleagues, this morning, a significant number of drivers from 'Yerevan Bus' LLC refused to take to their routes without any prior notice, effectively leaving tens of thousands of citizens rushing to work and other places stranded. As you know, over the past month, we have periodically announced to the public that, alongside the implementation of a unified ticketing system, shadow circulation has been significantly reduced, and this process will continue.

Despite the employment-related issues raised by the drivers being addressed periodically, and the assurance given to them that the improvement of working conditions would accompany the reduction of shadow circulation, once again, a large number of drivers have put forth illogical demands, which are accompanied by manifestations of extortion.

We would like to remind you once more that the drivers' net salary (before taxes) for 15 days of work in a month is as follows: MAN - 401,500 AMD, Zhong Tong - 309,500 AMD, Gazel City - 219,500 AMD.

It is important to emphasize that Armenian labor legislation stipulates that employees of public transport organizations must notify at least 14 days in advance about the intention to strike and are even required to ensure minimum conditions during the strike necessary for meeting the urgent needs of the public.

We also inform you that the actions mentioned above will be evaluated within the framework of labor legislation, and we will appeal to the relevant authorities to give appropriate criminal-legal assessment to the aforementioned actions.

Dear residents of Yerevan, we apologize for the temporary inconvenience caused,” he wrote.