"3,500 workers strike" at the National Iranian Steel Industrial Group in Ahvaz
A number of 3,500 striking workers of the National Iranian Steel Industrial Group in Ahvaz were threatened by the private employer of this unit with "registration of absence from work, deprivation of personnel benefits on days of non-work, dismissal, and referral to the competent authorities."
On Thursday, February 25, the Free Union of Iranian Workers published a circular from the Human Resources Manager of the National Steel Industrial Group of Iran, quoting reports from workers in the unit, writing: "This official threat has been made while the employer of this large steel complex, as a result of the workers' strike, has paid their arrears until the end of November by Wednesday (February 25), and is refusing to pay the remaining demands of 3,500 workers under false pretenses."
The strike of 3,500 workers of the National Iranian Steel Industrial Group has begun on Tuesday, February 25.
According to this report, workers at the National Iranian Steel Industrial Group, in addition to arrears of wages, are demanding a commitment from the employer to pay wages and social security premiums on time, establish supplementary insurance, and dismiss managers who have caused the current problems.
According to a circular issued by the Free Workers Union of Iran, a "small number" of employees of the National Steel Industrial Group of Iran were accused of "obstructing the productive and jihadi work of their colleagues."
The National Iranian Steel Industrial Group was an economic enterprise belonging to the Amir Mansour Aria Investment Group, which was temporarily transferred to the judiciary and then to the National Bank after a judicial investigation into the embezzlement of three trillion tomans. In recent months, the ownership of this working group has been transferred to a private company. The Free Union of Iranian Workers has not mentioned the name of this company.
Meanwhile, the Khoz News website wrote on November 20 that a person named "Seyed Abdolreza Mousavi" had won a tender held by Bank Melli.
This is not the first time that workers at the National Iranian Steel Industrial Group have protested and gone on strike.
According to ILNA news agency, more than 200 workers of the National Steel Industrial Group of Iran gathered in front of the central branch of the National Bank of Iran in Ahvaz on August 7 to protest the prolonged delay in paying their debts.
Meanwhile, reports from labor organizations and some news agencies indicate union protests and strikes by workers in a number of factories and companies in various cities in Iran in recent days.
These protests include those carried out by workers at the Nilu Tile Factory in Isfahan, Marivan Tobacco Works, Shahrood Railway workers, Iran Kola Iranshahr, Khorramshahr Soap Factory, employees of the Water Organization in Tehran, workers at the Railway Traverse Company in Varamin and Mianeh, the Sarvestan-Kharameh Transportation Axis Project and the Azerbaijan Prefabricated House Construction Company, contract employees at the Shahid Tondgoyan Petrochemical Company in Imam Khomeini Port, and truck drivers in Rasht.
In most cases, the protesting workers have demanded payment of their arrears.
The problem of unpaid wages for workers has intensified in recent years, and this has led to their protests, which have taken the form of sit-ins and gatherings inside factories, strikes, marches, and gatherings in front of government buildings.
Source: Radio Farda
