Prince Reza Pahlavi Supports Protests of Refinery and Power Plant Workers
Prince Reza Pahlavi expressed support for nationwide protests by workers in the oil and gas industries across various Iranian cities and called on the protesters to maintain their solidarity.
In a statement posted on Twitter, addressing refinery and power plant workers who have protested in recent days across different Iranian cities by joining the nationwide campaign “Twenty-Ten 1400,” he wrote: “I am closely following your inspiring solidarity and unity in this widespread civil disobedience. Keep this unity and solidarity until your rightful demands are met. Know that the Iranian nation stands beside you.”
In recent days, a number of workers from refineries in Tehran, Qeshm, Abadan, Bid Boland Behbahan, Gachsaran Petrochemical, and Bushehr held protest gatherings to demand attention to their demands.
The main demands of the workers, whose protests began on the twenty-ninth of Khordad, include “wage increases and payment of overdue wages,” “elimination of intermediary contracting companies,” “job security in the workplace,” and access to the “Twenty-Ten” plan, meaning 20 working days and 10 days of leave.
This is not the first time that workers and employees in Iran’s oil, gas, and petrochemical industries have gone on strike. Previously, Voice of America reported that in early Khordad, groups of workers protested their employment and income conditions in Tehran, Ahvaz, Asaluyeh, Mahshahr, Gachsaran, Abadan, Bahregan, Lavan, and the Aboozar oilfield in Bushehr Province.
The Coordination Council for Organizing Protests of Oil Contract Workers previously announced in a statement that contract workers, after a one-week warning strike, would join the protest and strike of formal oil employees starting on the ninth of Tir.
