{"id":280742,"date":"2017-05-20T15:08:53","date_gmt":"2017-05-20T11:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/epress.am\/?p=280742"},"modified":"2017-05-20T15:08:53","modified_gmt":"2017-05-20T11:08:53","slug":"sanitek-blacklists-employees-who-take-on-second-jobs-former-worker-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/2017\/05\/20\/sanitek-blacklists-employees-who-take-on-second-jobs-former-worker-says.html","title":{"rendered":"Sanitek Blacklists Employees Who Take on Second Jobs, Former Worker Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Volodya Achemyan<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, a 65-year-old member of a Sanitek Armenia<\/a><\/span><\/strong> garbage pickup crew who has recently had his leg amputated after being \u00a0hit by a car<\/a><\/span><\/strong> on Yerevan\u2019s Baghramyan-Kievyan intersection in late March, has been getting no help whatsoever from Sanitek; representatives of the garbage removal company have not even visited Achemyan in hospital, his daughter, Ruzanna Achemyan, tells Epress.am. Sanitek has also been refusing to hire Ruzanna as a cleaner, insisting that the woman has been \u201cblacklisted\u201d by the company. The Achemyans say they plan to take the issue to court not only in connection with this particular incident, but also for the sake of \u201cestablishing order in Sanitek.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Over the years, Ruzanna says, she has worked for various Yerevan waste management companies, including Sanitek, as a cleaner; \u201cI was present at the opening of Sanitek. [Yerevan mayor] Taron Margaryan came and said, \u2018You\u2019ll be getting 500 dollars a month, everything will be very good.\u2019 But at first [the salary] was 130 000 drams (less than $270), then – 105 000 drams, and now we are getting only 70 000. How can one provide for three kids with this kind of money?\u201d<\/p>\n

Last summer, Ruzanna, along with several other Sanitek employees, took on a second job as cleaners at a Yerevan market. Immediately upon finding out, the Sanitek management made the women hand in their resignation letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had only been working at the market for a week when Sanitek officials came for us\u2026 They were filming the entire process, as if we were some kind of criminals. It\u2019s not like they were paying me 500 dollars – I couldn\u2019t afford not working anywhere else. They took us to a room and locked us there; then one of their officials came and began talking to us rudely\u2026 In a word, they fired us and refused to pay for the last 15 days. They told us we would be able to work [in Sanitek] again in two months, so we signed the resignation letters,\u201d Ruzanna says. According to the woman, however, Sanitek has since been refusing the re-hire the women, claiming that they have been \u201cblacklisted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruzanna\u2019s 65-year-old father Volodya began working for Sanitek shortly after she was fired. A few months later, however, the man was hit by a car while on duty as a result of the company\u2019s violation of safety rules and is now unable to work.<\/p>\n

Achemyan has been in hospital for nearly two months; according to Ruzanna, Sanitek has given them only 1 800 000 drams for health insurance, which has not even been enough for covering the costs of prescription drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cFather needed blood transfusion, but we were short of money. So I called Sanitek and asked for 30 000 drams, but they said they could not help me. They haven\u2019t even checked up on him to make sure he is alive; he is their employee after all,\u201d Ruzanna tells Epress.am.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to Sanitek and asked for a meeting with the company\u2019s director; but they rejected again, saying that I was on the \u2018company\u2019s blacklist.\u2019 There are a lot of people on this list, and I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll support me should I decide to take the issue to court,\u201d Ruzanna says, adding that she intends to fight not only for herself, but also for the other employees of Sanitek. \u201cI don\u2019t want this poor people to end up like my father. [Sanitek officials] need to bring order into the company. They throw the people to the streets at 9 am and force them to work to dawn. The work there is unsystematic and disorderly.\u201d<\/p>\n