Lack of awareness of rank and file of South Caucasus Railway was the  reason of protests  

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