More than 17,500 oil workers are striking at over 75 locations in Iran

A union announced that “more than 17,500 oil project workers in over 75 contracting companies” in various regions were on a comprehensive strike.

The Council for Organising Protests of Contract Workers in the Oil Industry (Third Party) wrote on June 22, referring to the start of the project workers’ strike on June 19: “Elimination of contract workers, increase in wages and also 14 days of work and 14 days of rest” are the main demands of the striking workers.

The striking workers also stressed the need to improve housing, working conditions and workplace safety.

The regime’s news agency ILNA also wrote on Saturday: “With the arrival of summer, a new wave of protests by project workers and ongoing projects in the oil, gas and third-party funding sectors has begun in the south of the country. The main demand is to change working hours and dismiss contractors.”

According to this report, in refineries, petrochemicals and other oil and gas centers, as well as in third sectors, a new protest campaign of striking workers began under the slogan “All workers have the same table” called “14-14”, and the workers handed over their tools and went home.

Meanwhile, according to ILNA, Alireza Mirghafari, board member of the Supreme Federation of Trade Unions, reported while releasing news of the project workers’ protest campaign that threatening text messages in support of the contractors had been sent to the actively protesting workers.

In recent years, project workers have repeatedly gone on strike to protest their living conditions. In addition, the number of labor protests such as strikes and rallies has increased in various regions of Iran in recent years. These protests have mainly been against unpaid wages, low wages, layoffs in factories and companies, and privatization.

Meanwhile, the Etemad newspaper wrote in a report on Thursday, June 20: “An investigation into labor protests over the past 27 months, from March 2022 to June 2024, shows that during this period, thousands of coal, copper, iron ore and chrome miners in Kerman, Mazandaran, Yazd, Razavi-Khorasan, South Khorasan and Semnan provinces demanded their legal rights in assemblies lasting from a few hours to several days and weeks.”

While the propaganda for the sham elections is underway, the candidates selected by the regime are busy making fraudulent and repetitive promises, while workers and pensioners who stay away from this noise and are indifferent to it are eagerly protesting and striking to obtain their rights. This shows that Iranian workers have no hope of improving their situation by participating in the elections.

It is noteworthy that the Iranian government does not allow independent unions or syndicates, and that the regime uses all means to prevent protests and strikes by workers. The other so-called unions are under the control of the regime. The employers of the oil and petrochemical companies, all of which are linked to state institutions such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), threaten and fire workers.

Contract workers are denied any rights despite working for years on these projects and sometimes their meager wages are delayed for months. It is worth noting that work in oil and gas fields is extremely difficult and strenuous and workers are forced to work for up to 12 hours in temperatures of over 50 degrees Celsius.