Epress.am News from Armenia
Employees of the security service of Yerevan's idling Nairit chemical plant, who have been protesting over five months' unpaid salaries, have received notices that they are being let go from their job. The order, the security guards have been informed, will take effect on December 1.
Speaking to Epress.am during a protest action outside the office of the ministry of natural resources and energy infrastructure today, security guard Garik Harutyunyan said that the employees did not really care about being fired: the main demand is the payment of their salaries.
“We have kids, we have loans to pay off; we don't know what else to do. How much longer can we work for free? Don't they have children; I don't understand what they are thinking,” Artak Aleksanyan, another protesting Nairit worker, complained.
“Last week we delivered an appeal letter to the Government office, but we have yet to receive a reply. We don't have any expectations any more. We've gathered here, waiting for officials to come out and speak to us, but we don't even believe anyone will,” Harutyunyan added.
After quite some time spent waiting in vain outside the office of the ministry of natural resources and energy infrastructure, the protesters entered the building to demand a meeting with minister Ashot Manukyan. Law enforcement officers, however, did not allow the Nairit workers to go upstairs, claiming that the minister was taking part in a Cabinet sitting. The protesters then went to the main government building and managed to have a brief conversation with Manukyan upon his leaving the meeting. The minister, according to Garik Harutyunyan, told the protesters that he could do nothing about the problem at the moment.