Workers of Nairit Plant again plan to gather outside Armenian government
Workers of Yerevan-based Nairit chemical plant plan to gather outside the Armenian government on July 9 to get information about payment of their back wages.
“We were told that our back wages for past years will be paid fully by July 15. There is no news about that so far. They should have begun distributing the wages. We are concerned,” Anush Harutyunyan, member of coordinating group of protest actions staged by Nairit employees, told Panorama.am, adding: “We will gather outside the government on July 9 to understand why there is no news.
On June 9 Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan received a group of Nairit Plant’s workers. He said a decision was made at a consultation held by the Armenian president to attract funds by July 15, 2015, to pay back wages of Nairit workers over the past few years. The PM said Energy and Natural Resources Minister Yervand Zakharyan was instructed to set up a commission to deal with calculation of wages, and the debt will be repaid by July 15 of this year.
Their demands will also include the re-launch of Nairit Plant, Anush Harutyunyan said. In her words, although a preliminary report by WB, Nairit cannot be competitive and its further operation is not economically sound, the Armenian experts do not share that opinion.
“Our programs showed that Nairit’s re-operation is not only possible, but also necessary,” she said noting that the WB report on Nairit is unacceptable to them.
As reported, Nairot Plant workers have regularly staged protests since last year. They demand repayment of their back wages (5.7 billion drams accumulated in the past 4 years). Layoffs of 1,700 workers of Nairit were announced on February 6, 2015.