Epress.am News from Armenia
A group of former employees of the Vanadzor Thermal Power Plant today held a protest outside the office of the regional administration to demand several months’ worth of back wages, Armtimes.com reports. The protesters were met by Lori deputy governor Arsen Darbinyan who told them governor Artur Nalbandyan was out of the country. Darbinyan then advised the protesters to come back when Nalbandyan was back in town.
According to the protesters, they have been fruitlessly struggling to get their wages for years: “We’ve appealed to all possible state institutions, written complaint letters to a number of officials, but no one wants to oblige the management to pay us,” one of the protesters told an Armtimes reporter.
A few years ago, the former employees of the thermal power plant, which is part of the now bankrupt Vanadzor-Khimprom enterprise, went to court to get their wage debts. The court ruled in favor of the applicants; however, the ruling has yet to be implemented, and over 150 former employees are still waiting to receive their 4 months’ worth of back pay.