More than a hundred former employees of a troubled chemical plant in the northern Armenian city of Vanadzor blocked its main entrance on Tuesday to demand several months’ worth of back pay.
The Vanadzor-Khimprom enterprise has never recovered from the 2008-2009 global economic crisis and the resulting collapse of international prices of calcium carbide, its main product. It stopped manufacturing the chemical compound used in steelmaking and sent most of its 830-strong workforce on indefinite leave in late 2008.
A thermal power plant which is part of the former chemical giant employed some 150 workers until 2012. They have still not been paid by the company despite periodical protests staged in Vanadzor. They are owed a total of 130 million drams ($270,000) despite repeated promises by the Vanadzor-Khimprom management and the Armenian government to eliminate the wage arrears.
The mostly middle-aged workers blocked the entrance to Vanadzor-Khimprom’s energy facility for 12 days before deciding to impose a similar blockade on the entire chemical complex. They only allowed one heavy truck to leave it later in the day. They said they will maintain a nonstop vigil around the industrial area until they get paid.
The company’s chief executive, Aleksandr Snegiryov, threatened to appeal to the police “if things continue like this.” Snegiryov claimed that the protesters insulted him when he met them on Monday.
Snegiryov refused to answer further questions from RFE/RL’s Armenian service. It thus remained unclear whether the company intends to pay the back wages any time soon.
The aging plant, which had thousands of employees in Soviet times, also has massive debts to other business entities.