Protest rallies by steel retirees continue in several cities; special guards surround Songun copper strikers

Receiving a pension above the poverty line, free medical treatment, resolving supplementary insurance problems, implementing the Equalization of Salaries Law, and paying the legal claims of steel retirees in accordance with the valid steel regulations are among the most important demands of the protesters.

ILNA news agency quoted protesters from the Steel Fund as saying that the insignificant increase in receipts, which is due to the incorrect application of the pension equalization law by the Steel Fund, is not in line with the rate of inflation and our living costs, and the fund does not intend to correct this equalization, which has been paid 27 percent less than other pension funds, by providing financial resources.

Meanwhile, news is coming from East Azerbaijan that workers at Iran's second largest copper mine have been surrounded by law enforcement and special guards on the sixth day of their strike.

According to the Free Union of Iranian Workers, after the managers of the Songun Copper Complex threatened more than two thousand protesting workers that they would side with the government if they did not end their strike, news emerged early Sunday that law enforcement forces and special guards were heavily present at the entrance to the Songun Copper Complex, preventing workers from moving around.

According to this report, the families of these workers have threatened that if anything happens to the striking workers, they will come to the complex from the cities of Urmia, Tabriz, Varzaghan, and Ahar and protest.

Workers at the Songun Copper Complex have stopped working in protest against the cancellation of temporary contracts as well as the implementation of the job classification plan.

The Songun Copper Complex has an annual turnover of more than 15 trillion Tomans, and in September of this year, part of the operation of this complex was transferred to the Khatam al-Anbia Construction Headquarters, the economic arm of the IRGC.

A video of the strike of workers at the Songun Copper Complex in Varzaghan has also been released, in which a crane moves quickly and dangerously towards the protesters and passes through the crowd.