YEREVAN. – A group of workers from Nairit chemical [rubber] plant of Armenia’s capital city Yerevan, and who have been laid off for four years and demand their unpaid salaries for the past fifteen months, are prepared to go to the Government building every day, stage a sit-in, and even declare a hunger strike unless their problem is resolved.   

They stated the aforesaid on Wednesday, as they again gathered in front of the Government building to demand their unpaid wages, and a specific response on the fate of the plant.   

The number of demonstrators is growing, the Armenian News-NEWS.am reporter informs.

A large number of police officers are overseeing the protest, and they have formed a human wall near the building entrance.  

Aleksandr Ghazaryan, Head of the Government Department of Petitions and Complaints, came out of the building and told the Nairit workers to speak with Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisyan, but they refused.

“The last time, when they gave us one month’s salary, Movsisyan said: ‘Don’t come to me, anymore! Don’t ask for salary from me!’ We want to clearly know what will happen,” plant employee Tigran Minasyan said.    

Shortly thereafter, however, they decided to go, with about seven or eight people, and meet with Movsisyan. But they warned that if the minister does not give them a clear answer, they will return and demand to meet with PM Tigran Sargsyan. And if no one will accept them again, they will head to the Presidential Palace.   

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am