The government rejected today Hrant Bagratyan's proposal to raise the minimum wage from 32,000 to 72,000 AMD without listening to Bagratyan's arguments.
In the opinion of Bagratyan, who is a deputy of the Armenian National Congress (HAK), his proposal was rejected because all members of the government are employers so they are unwilling to pay their employers from their own pockets: "Each of them has his own business".
Hrant Bagratyan suspects that his proposal would not have been rejected if those who turned it down had known some ways of showing that they also want to raise the wage. However, they rejected as they foresaw that Bagratyan would not limit himself to that proposal.
«They know very well that if they accept the proposal of 72,000 AMD, Bagratyan will make a new proposal to raise the minimum pension to 75,000 AMD».
The deputy of HAK is sure that the government has money to raise wages.
According to him, even if, say, 20 billion AMD is needed for this purpose, the oligarchs should provide part of their profits. «A billion is not a large amount, taking into account the fact that an oligarch reports a profit of $200 million annually».
Asked if he will work in the Serzh Sargsyan government, Hrant Bagratyan replied that it will be possible on the condition that the oligarchs share their money with the people.
«But this will result in a struggle and shots as oligarchs will not give up their positions so easily, » Hrant Bagratyan said.
