YEREVAN. – Over one hundred former employees of Nairit Chemical Factory in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan, and who demand their unpaid salaries, have assembled outside the Government Building on Thursday.

They demand to meet with the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Yervand Zakharyan, so that he clarifies when all plant workers will receive their wage arrears.

“We need to make it clear to him that we don’t want to receive the salaries in parts; we want to get the wages together,” Nairit former Press Secretary Anush Harutyunyan told reporters. “But we can’t wait until the end of the month.”

The Armenian News-NEWS.am reporter informed from the scene that the police have beefed up security outside the Government Building.

On Thursday, the plant employees will start signing the agreements regarding the waiving of penalties and fines for the delay in the payment of their outstanding salaries. Subsequently, the staff of two Nairit production facilities will receive their due wages within five days. The Nairit workers, however, argue that they should get the salaries together, and by no later than August 24.

Even though the government had pledged to pay all the salaries by Wednesday, no respective money has yet been transferred to the bank account of any Nairit employee.

The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Yervand Zakharyan, had recently met with a group of former employees of Nairit. He had told them there was a discussion with the President and the Prime Minister on the Nairit issue, and upon the President’s instruction, the wage debts shall be paid by no later than Wednesday, July 15.

A total of 1,700 Nairit workers were formally discharged as of February 6. At this point, the total debt of Nairit chemical rubber plant—which no longer operates—amounts to 102 billion drams (approx. $215,184,825). Around $15 million of these arrears are the 18 to 24 months of unpaid wages of the plant employees.

The workers have assembled outside the Government Building and the Office of the President numerous times, and demanded a solution to their salary-related problems.