Former "Nairit" workers refuse to hold sit-in strike

After the promises of the Minister of Energy of Armenia to repay all the wage debts before the end of July, ex-workers of the "Nairit" Factory decided to postpone the start of their sit-in strike, while continuing a series of pickets.

Workers of the "Nairit" Factory are holding their actions since 2012, demanding to repay their wage debts. On June 9, Ervand Zakharyan, the Minister of Energy, said that by an order of the president of the country all the debts will be repaid before July 15.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports referring to organizers, that the rally in front of the Armenian government was about 200 people strong.

About 30 protesters did not agree with this decision. Four of them sat down in front of the building of the government, saying that they would not leave the Republic Square unless they are provided with written guarantees of the final date of repayment of their wage debts. They are convinced that the government is once again trying to deceive them.

The unhappy ex-workers of the factory invited their colleagues to join the action, but as of 2:00 p.m. Moscow time most of them left the territory adjacent to the building of the government.

As reported by Anush Arutyunyan, the former press secretary of the factory, the protesters returned to the "Nairit" Factory, where on Thursday they began the process of signing agreements with the factory bosses about the waive of the judicial collection of fines and penalties for the delayed payment of wages.

According to her story, the minister said that the wage debts would be transferred to ex-workers in parts.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.