Conflicting news about the end of the Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers' protest

Contradictory news has been published regarding the end of the union protests by workers at the Haft Tappeh sugarcane complex following negotiations with the new management of this industrial unit. The head of the Omid faction of the Islamic Consultative Assembly called for avoiding security and judicial confrontations with the workers.

On Sunday, December 2, conflicting reports were published in Iranian media and social media about the end of the Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers' union protests.

According to ILNA, after four weeks, on Sunday afternoon, "the Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers resumed their professional activities by sounding the production siren in various departments."

These workers' protest against the non-payment of wage demands and other demands of the working and retired workers of this work unit has lasted for about 28 days.

Among the demands of the Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers' long protest were "payment of wage arrears, conclusion of labor contracts with 1,500 daily wage workers, determination of the factory's condition and its repairs, implementation of the job classification plan, payment of insurance claims for seasonal workers, payment of retirement costs for eligible workers, resolution of the land division issue, and change of management."

Following the protest rallies and marches of the workers, a number of them have been arrested. The Telegram channel of the Haft Tappeh Workers' Syndicate reported the summoning of 20 protesting workers and the telephone threats made against a number of other workers on Sunday.

The Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Agro-Industrial Complex was transferred to the private sector in late 2015. With more than half a century of history, this complex is considered the largest and oldest sugarcane sugar factory in Iran.

Aref criticizes security and judicial treatment of workers

The head of the Omid faction of the Islamic Consultative Assembly emphasized the "need to fundamentally solve the workers' problems" and called for avoiding security and judicial confrontations with workers.

Mohammad Reza Aref, head of the Omid faction of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, met with the board of directors of the Tehran Retired Workers Association on Sunday, December 1, and criticized "security and judicial encounters with workers" and called for "a radical solution to the workers' problems."

Aref recalled that workers played a major role in the victory of the Islamic Revolution and are now suffering the most economic pressures, and therefore demand their rights be realized within the framework of the law.

The head of the Omid faction of the Islamic Consultative Assembly said: "In the current difficult and difficult conditions of the country, the greatest economic pressure is on the working class, and their demands must be addressed seriously. The sometimes security and judicial approaches to the demands of workers who are pursuing their rights within the framework of the law are not consistent with the essence of the Islamic Revolution, and such approaches are a cover-up of the issue."

Request to form a legal entity 

According to Karim Yavari, Director General of Job Support and Unemployment Insurance at the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, among the demands of the workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Agro-Industrial Complex is the formation of a legal labor organization and the implementation of a job classification plan for those workers for whom the plan has not been implemented.

The Director General of Job Support and Unemployment Insurance at the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare said that, based on "the order of the Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare and the follow-up carried out with the presence of provincial officials at the Haft Tappeh site," the workers were given certain commitments.

Yavari emphasized that due to the change in management and the start of work by the new management and the promise to follow up on the demands of the Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers, after 28 days, these workers "returned to the workshop and resumed their activities, work, and production so that, in coordination and cooperation with the new management, they could receive their arrears and claims from the harvest site."

According to Yavari, "a full-power manager with official notarized power of attorney with all the authority to buy, sell, and resolve labor problems" has been selected to manage Haft Tappeh.

Protests continue in Ahvaz steel workers

On Sunday, December 1, a group of workers from the National Iranian Steel Group marched again along Naderi Street to the Khuzestan Governorate for the 23rd consecutive day to protest the failure to meet their demands.

Videos posted on social media show a protest rally by steel workers on Sunday. Among the slogans heard at the rally were: “Inflation, high prices, answer Rouhani,” “High prices, inflation is the punishment for the people’s vote,” “Leave Syria, think about us,” “Our shame, our radio and television,” and “We steel workers are fighting, we are fighting against oppression and tyranny.”

ILNA quoted the protesting workers as saying: "While our wages have been delayed for three months, some government officials recently announced in the media that all workers would be paid two months' wages, but no payment has been made to date."

Karim Yavari, Director General of Job Support and Unemployment Insurance at the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, said on Sunday about the wage arrears of workers at the Ahvaz Steel Mill: "In the next two days, about two thousand workers of this industrial unit will receive their two-month wages."

Source: DW