Continuation and Expansion of Labor Strikes in Iran
Workers active in various sectors of Iran, including the sugar cane, oil and gas, and petrochemical industries, continued their strikes on Sunday, August 3rd.
Based on reports published on social media and labor organization outlets, strikes by workers at several refineries and petrochemical companies in Khuzestan, Bushehr, Hormozgan, and Fars provinces entered their second day.
Workers at the Qeshm, Abadan, and Parsian refineries, as well as Lamerd Petrochemical and phases 22 and 24 of South Pars had begun their strike on Saturday. However, reports indicate that on Sunday, in addition to the continuation of strikes at these companies, the Fujairah and Kangan refineries and Pars Petrochemical also faced worker strikes. Additionally, workers at phase 14 of South Pars have also gone on strike.
Protesting workers are demanding the payment of their delayed wages and improved working conditions, as well as reduced working hours in the 50-degree heat of the south. Less than a week ago, Ibrahim Arabzadeh, a Mahshahr petrochemical worker, lost his life due to heat stroke, and Omran Roshan Moghadam, a worker at the Yadiavaran oil field, also committed suicide on June 13th due to not receiving his delayed wages.
Based on videos and visual reports on social media, striking workers, the majority of whom are contract workers, have gathered peacefully at their workplaces or in their dormitories.
News agency ILNA also reported that around 200 employees of HEPCO company gathered for the second consecutive day on Sunday, August 3rd, in the company’s premises and under the Shahid Bakhtiari bridge.
Workers of this road construction machinery manufacturing company are protesting “the confusion and uncertainty resulting from undefined work and the decline in the operational capacity of production lines.”
It is said that this company operates at only 5 to 10 percent of its capacity.
The news agency also reported a gathering of laid-off employees from Equity Share (Sehame Adalet) offices in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly building, who came to Tehran from various regions of the country.
The protesters, who demand reinstatement to their previous jobs, say that as of August 4th of this year, following a new guideline from the Supreme Stock Exchange Council regarding the liberalization of equity shares, they have been laid off.
These workers told ILNA: “We are about 1,500 people who, after 13 years of work in cooperative company offices of the Equity Share program, the Supreme Stock Exchange Council, in its recent decisions to liberalize equity shares, did not account for our employment status and as a result has left us unemployed.”
The Islamic Republic has in many cases responded to labor protests by detaining protesters, and so far a number of labor activists, including in relation to the Haft Tappeh sugar cane company, have faced heavy judicial sentences.
Source: DW
