Striking Tailors from Ijevan Sent Back to India
May 15
The tailors of the “Grand Textile” garment factory in Ijevan who had gone on strike are leaving Armenia starting today. The factory director has purchased return tickets for them without paying their wages for the last month.
The workers were forced to accept these conditions after protesting against overexploitation. The tailors not only worked in the factory, but also lived there. The director threatened to unilaterally terminate their employment contracts and expel from the premises anyone who rebelled. Had they continued demanding their salaries, they could simply have ended up on the street. Ten people have already left Armenia today, while the remaining 160 will leave in the coming days.
This is not the first time the management of the Ijevan factory has simply sent publicly protesting workers back to India, replacing them with new groups of migrants recruited in Yerevan with the assistance of the Embassy of India.
In such cases, criminal proceedings are closed on the grounds of the absence of the alleged victims. This happened after the 2025 strike, when a criminal case was launched over threats made against workers with a handgun, and also in 2020, when a group of Indian tailors escaped from the factory and filed a complaint alleging elements of labor trafficking.
May 13
Police officers in Ijevan attacked Indian workers.
On May 13, tailors protesting against pressure from the management and against unbearable working and living conditions were subjected to a police raid. The workers sent videos to Epress.am and reported that law enforcement officers used physical force to detain at least nine people. No demands or legal grounds were presented.
Participants in the strike believe that the police came to the factory at the director’s request in order to intimidate them and force them to accept the management’s conditions.
The Armenian Ministry of Internal Affairs told Epress.am that the police entered the premises “after receiving a report about a disturbance of public order and detained one person who refused to comply with demands.” No further details were provided.
May 12
Epress.am managed to enter the territory of the “semi-closed” garment factory in Ijevan and speak with the Indian migrant workers who had gone on strike, as well as with their boss. More details in the video. Armenian and English subtitles are available.
More details about the strike:
How migrant workers live and why they are on strike in Ijevan
