Iranian employees protest over delayed wages
Iranian workers - mainly in the oil and gas industry
- took to the streets demanding payment of overdue wages and the implementation
of the job-classification law, local media Radio Farda reported.
The labor strikes took place in southern Iran at
Abadan, Parisian and Qeshm oil refineries, and in the Lamerd petrochemical
complex, and South Pars oil field.
Workers at the Qeshm oil refinery said their
employers do not pay them regularly. One of the refineries’ directors said the
workers were demanding raises and had no problem concerning overdue salaries.
Unpaid wages and benefits in Iran in recent years
have become a serious problem for employees. It has led to workers protesting
across Iran, including the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Industrial Complex, in the
oil-rich Khuzestan province.
Sugarcane workers in recent years have been calling
for their overdue wages and demanding the company’s return of ownership to the
public sector or the workers themselves.
Workers on Saturday marked their 48th day of strike
action outside the complex.
In Iran, people are arrested if they participate in
labor protests. Multiple workers of the Haft Tappeh Industrial Complex have
been detained and sentenced to long term imprisonment.
