Workers of Vanadzor chemical factory ask authorities to address their salary debts

Courts of Armenia are considering several cases on bankruptcy of the chemical complex "Vanadzor-Khimprom", while factory workers seek a meeting with the Prime Minister of Armenia Ovik Abramyan.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 7 workers of "Vanadzor-Khimprom" held a protest in front of the administration of the Lori Region of Armenia with a demand to pay out their salary debts that accrued for nine months.

The total debt is about 366 million drams (over 750,000 US dollars), said Samvel Khalatyan, the head of the division of information and public relations of the administration of the Lori Region.

In early December 2014, factory bosses fully paid all salary debts, but then again stopped paying salaries and wages, said Grachya Martirosyan, a chemical engineer.

He believes that to restart operation, the factory needed investments. According to his story, given the today's equipment, no profitable production is possible, as the cost of electricity and gas makes its products uncompetitive.

According to the lawyer Karen Tumanyan, who is defending the interests of the workers of the Thermal-Power Plant (TPP), a part of the "Vanadzor-Khimprom", a company named "Region Energy", registered in the offshore, was created on the basis of the TPP and it now owes salaries for several months to over 100 members of its staff.

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