"Nairit" workers tell about their plight after plant closure

Former workers of the "Nairit" plant, who held a protest action demanding to meet Nikol Pashinyan, the Acting Prime Minister of Armenia, failed to do it. They complained about their difficult financial situation after the closure of the plant and announced their intention to continue protest actions.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 19, former "Nairit" workers held an action, at which they demanded to pay them the interest (penalty) on their delayed salaries, as well as to meet Nikol Pashinyan. About one hundred people took part in the action.

"Our main demands are the restart of the plant and payment of the interest," Spartak Pogosyan, who has worked for 48 years as a locksmith in the acetylene shop, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "We prefer discussing these issues directly with Nikol Pashinyan, since he, when he was elected the Prime Minister, promised us that the 'Nairit' would continue working. Now it's time to ask Pashinyan, who now and then pronounces the word 'people', whether the plant will work or not," Mr Pogosyan has stated.

"Nairit" workers were forced, by blackmail, to refuse from the demand of paying the interest, Bavakan Ustiyan, a former worker of the plant, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to her story, they were told that if they refuse to claim the interest, they will achieve the restart of the "Nairit". "Naturally, we signed an agreement and refused from claiming the interest, as we wanted to resume working at our plant," she said.

Besides, according to the protesters, if they had not signed the above agreement, they would "stay in debts, as many would not be able to repay their bank loans."

Not achieving a meeting with Pashinyan, the protesters went home and agreed to continue their protest action on December 21 in front of the building of the Armenian government.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 20, 2018 at 03:52 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.