KAJARAN, Armenia – The Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC) management has announced a series of significant changes to its employee compensation, benefits, and working conditions, following recent strikes and demands for better treatment. The company issued a statement outlining its commitment to addressing employee concerns and urging workers to return to their posts.
The planned changes include a comprehensive overhaul of the wage system, a new health insurance provider, and significant improvements to workplace infrastructure. The wage review, which began in September 2024, will factor in work experience and qualifications, and will increase the total wage fund by an average of 20%. The new system is expected to be implemented within a month of production resumption.
Acknowledging employee dissatisfaction with the current health insurance plan, ZCMC will hold an open tender on February 17 to select a new provider. The chosen company will be expected to offer higher quality services that meet employee needs.
ZCMC also announced plans to modernize its production facilities. Following a technical audit completed in December 2024, the company has begun designing and procuring new ventilation and aspiration systems. These are slated for installation by the end of 2025.
“Dear employees, we urge you to return to your workplaces,” the ZCMC statement reads. “We can achieve these goals and solve these problems together. ZCMC is a close-knit team, and our common goal is the effective operation of the plant for the benefit of the well-being of employees, the development of the region and the prosperity of Armenia.”
These announcements come after some ZCMC employees went on strike, demanding a 50% salary increase. The company deemed these demands “unrealistic” and the strikers’ actions as exceeding the bounds of the Labor Code.
ZCMC is Armenia’s largest mining company, operating the Kajaran copper-molybdenum deposit, which has an estimated ore supply of 150 years. The company is a major contributor to the Armenian economy, consistently ranking among the top taxpayers. In 2024, ZCMC contributed approximately 102 billion drams to the state treasury, a 44% year-on-year increase. This includes 30.2 billion drams in direct taxes and 2.7 billion drams in indirect taxes. In December, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that ZCMC had also transferred 33.25 billion drams to the state budget as government dividends, reflecting the government’s shareholder status in the company.
