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Former workers of Yerevan-based Nairit chemical plant again gathered today outside the Armenian government to demand re-operation of the plant.

“Perhaps we are clutching at straws, but we believe that the government is sensible enough to realize the importance of the plant’s reoperation for Armenia,” ex-spokeswoman for Nairit plant Anush Harutyunyan said.
In her words, their latest meeting with Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Levon Shahverdyan aroused their trust in the government and also hope that the government intends to re-launch the plant.

“The deputy minister linked efficient discussion of the plant problem with the fact that not all assets have been returned from Interstate Bank, but the problem is expected to be solved by late 2015,” A. Harutyunyan said adding that they will await concrete measures, while all the agreements ‘imposed on them’ should be cancelled.

To remind, since late 2014 Nairit workers regularly staged protests which were backed by some political parties of Armenia. They demanded that their back wages - totaling 5.7 billion drams over 4 years - be repaid in full. On February 6, 2015 Nairit announced 1,700 layoffs. The Armenian government repaid back wages of about 2,400 workers of the plant in late August.

Yet the plant workers announced in September that they intend to send a letter to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in order to inform him about violations committed during payment of  their  back wages. Anush Harutyunyan said that some of the employees had documents about a court decision allowing them to also receive fines for non-payment of their wages, but the debt was only paid to them.