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27 August, 2026Three years after winning their case in court, workers at Pure Iron Plant OJSC in Armenia still cannot exercise their trade union rights in practice. The plant's management has not fully implemented the court decisions that ruled in the union's favour at two levels of the Armenian court system.
The obstruction took specific forms: the elected head of the trade union organization was restricted from accessing and leaving the factory premises. Pressure was exerted on union members to resign their membership. The plant employed some 400–500 workers at the time. Approximately 80 per cent were union members – making the union a representative organization, not a marginal one.
After three years of litigation, the union prevailed. Yet the union still cannot operate freely on the factory premises in practice.
Eduard Pahlevanyan, chairman of the Branch Union of Trade Union Organizations of Miners, Metallurgists and Jewellers of the Republic of Armenia, says:
“We spent three years in the courts and won at two levels. But nothing has changed at the factory gate: our union chairperson is still denied access to the plant. Workers are being called in and pressured to leave the union en masse. Around eighty per cent of the workforce are union members. This is not a group of activists, it is practically the entire workforce.
“By refusing to recognize us in practice, management is refusing to talk to its own workers. A court ruling that exists only on paper protects no one. We have been ready to negotiate from day one, but negotiations start with full implementation of what the court has already decided.”
In letters to both Pure Iron Plant OJSC and its parent company CRONIMET Holding, IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie says:
“When workers win in court, they need the global labour movement backing them. We are here supporting this union until their rights are fully restored. A court decision without implementation is no victory at all.”
The letters call for
- full and immediate implementation of the court decisions
- the removal of obstacles preventing the trade union from functioning
- an end to pressure or discrimination against union members
- a restoration of genuine social dialogue and collective bargaining
IndustriALL is specifically calling on CRONIMET to address the situation through the group’s own human rights due diligence processes. CRONIMET has publicly committed to respecting internationally recognized human rights standards and implementing supply chain due diligence under the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act.