Epress.am News from Armenia
Nairit Factory employees protested again in front of the Presidential Palace yesterday, February 24, demanding that their salaries of 18 months were paid; the workers, however, “do not expect much from the Armenian authorities.” Note, that during the February 23rd protest the Nairit employees did not receive an answer from the President’s office.
Despite many journalists being present at the protest, there were few interviews or comments; the employees demands were clear, the impossibility of the government to meet their demands also.
When asked “What are you expecting from the government?” the Nairit workers answer, “We have absolutely no hope, we come here but have no hope. There needs to be a government in order for us to expect something, but there isn’t one. If the president doesn’t give a damn about the people, what can we demand? We come here hopeless,” said a middle aged male protest participant.
During the protest the factory workers spoke about the injustice around the current situation. One of the protesters recalled that even former PM Tigran Sargsyan’s brother, former deputy-director of Nairit, Ashot Sargsyan, received his salary. The workers also spoke about possible solutions, for example, it was noted that they could continue to work the factory and cover their debts.
“Tigran Sargsyan’s brother left with a final salary of 43 million AMD. How many workers' salaries would that cover? When it comes to them, they don’t need to wait for the property sale, unlike us. The factory hasn’t worked for five years, they have audited it a thousand times, every time they’ve spent $110,000. Why is the same calculation being done a thousand times?” said a protester, urging the company to spend their scarce resources efficiently.
Note, that the protesters were less in number compared to their last protest. They explained that the older pensioners have money to spend on transportation, however the younger workers do not have any source of income.