ArmInfo. The reason for the situation on the railway on November 5-7, as a result of which the movement of trains was suspended, was the lack of awareness of rank and file members of the team and the lack of effective dialogue between managers and employees related to the accrual of bonuses, CEO of the company Sergey Valko stated on November 15 during a conference call with the management and representatives of the trade union committees of South Caucasus Railways.
As the press service of the company informs, according to him, with the transition of the whole team to full employment for the first 9 months of 2018, the salary payments amounted to 11.9% or 610 million drams more than in the same period in 2017. The CEO of SCR informed that the processing of bonus provisions has already begun, and this process is quite laborious and time-consuming. The new edition of this provision will reduce the impact of the production results of separate months on the level of wages of the collective as a whole.
To recall, on the morning of November 8, employees of the locomotive depot in the second largest city of Armenia went on strike. They did not serve the trains, including the train plying the route Gyumri-Yerevan. The protest was organized because of the reduction in the size of the wage premiums for October. Dissatisfied citizens stated that the strike would continue until their demands were met. Prior to this, on November 5, employees of the Russian "South Caucasus Railway" blocked the Yerevan-Shorzha railroad in the section of the village of Tsovagyugh. They were dissatisfied with the deprivation of bonuses, as they work at any time of the year, including overtime, but never demanded to pay more. On November 7, the management of the company, agreeing to pay the premiums, announced its intention to review certain provisions for calculating the bonus payments to the workers of the track economy.
The situation was commented by Acting Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies of Armenia Hakob Arshakyan. He stated that the Armenian government at this stage does not intend to revise the agreement with Russian Railways. The Acting Minister stressed that, by concession agreement, the company undertakes to make investments and ensure the normal operation of the railway. However, its corporate policy of the company to chose legal methods and bonus system.
CJSC "South Caucasus Railway" is a 100% subsidiary of OJSC "Russian Railways" and carries out concession management of Armenian railways. The railway infrastructure of Armenia was handed over to the concession management of SCR CJSC according to the concession agreement signed on February 13, 2008. The term of concession management is 30 years with the right to prolong for another 10 years