Hundreds of Ararat Cement company employees have declared a work strike to bolster their demand for a wage increase.

Gayaneh Hovhanyan, a resident of the town of Ararat were the plant is located, has told Hetq that employees have closed the road leading to the cement plant,

Employees claim they only receive AMD 50,000-60,000 monthly for difficult and dangerous work.

They want to sit down with company owner Prosperous Party head Gagik Tsarukyan. They say that plant director Manuk Arakelyan isn’t receptive to their complaints and has arbitrarily dismissed some workers.

Update: Arakelyan has met with the striking employees and has requesting a ten-day grace period to imporve safety conditions inthe plant.