Social network users criticize idea to increase salaries of officials from Yerevan Mayoralty

A project to increase salaries of the employees of the Yerevan City Mayoralty is on the agenda of the meeting of the Council of Elders scheduled for today. Some Facebook users opposed the project. They wrote about low pensions, teacher salaries, and problems with garbage collection and public transport.

The decision to increase the salaries of the employees of the Yerevan City Mayoralty by an average of 28-30% is to be considered by an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Elders on May 8, reported Akop Karapetyan, the press secretary of the Mayoralty.

Members of the Armenian segment of Facebook criticized the proposal to raise the salaries of the employees of the Yerevan City Mayoralty. Facebook users pointed to unresolved problems in the urban economy.

"For what merits should the Mayor and his deputies enjoy an increase in their salaries? For the whole city merging into the garbage dumps? Or for the 50/50 survival chances in Yerevan transport?" wrote user Tigran Mazmanyan on his Facebook page.

In general, in Armenia, no one should enjoy an increase of salary as long as pensions do not exceed the minimum wage, Ruben Nersesyan believes. While teachers and other public sector employees get salaries of 60,000-100,000 drams [124-207 US dollars] and less, such an increase in the salaries of officials causes a feeling of injustice in people, Ovannes Manukyan suggests.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 8, 2019 at 06:26 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.