The workers of the old Darougar factory in Tehran, which was handed over to the public sector last year to prevent its closure, say they have about “four months of unpaid wages and seven months of unpaid insurance” and have repeatedly protested in the factory yard.
According to the state news agency ILNA, a Darougar worker reported on Wednesday, June 19, that due to the protest over arrears, “yesterday morning, one of the factory’s production workers with at least 20 years of experience was denied entry to his workplace by the employer’s order.”
This labor activist said that the workers of this factory are being threatened with dismissal and added that in recent months, several workers who had “asked some officials for help due to livelihood problems caused by not receiving wages” were dismissed.
The old Darougar factory was once one of the major producers of detergents and hygiene products in the Middle East and employed over 1,800 workers. However, according to this labor activist, “the number of workers has now dropped to 42.”
Last year, the Darougar factory was threatened with closure due to managerial incompetence and a lack of raw materials for production, and it finally survived by being transferred from the private sector to the “Industrial Support Board” in August 2023 and reducing its workforce.
Regarding the shutdown of Darougar factory’s production lines, this labor activist said that “the factory’s production activity has reached a minimum” and added that “currently, out of two production lines for shampoo and dishwashing liquid, only one line is operational due to a lack of raw materials.”
Expressing concern about the possibility of non-renewal of workers’ contracts, he said, “In total, 42 workers in the Darougar Tehran complex are employed in production, security, guarding, and administrative sectors, and all workers’ contracts will expire at the end of this month.”
In another news report, a labor activist in Chovar County, Ilam province, reported on the continuation of protests by laid-off workers in the “Arghawan Gostar Petrochemical Project” in Ilam. This protest began early last week.
This labor activist reported that some project workers in Arghawan Gostar Petrochemical “became unemployed with the end of the contractor’s contract, and the trend of unemployment continues for other workers.”
Last week, several laid-off workers from the Arghawan Gostar Petrochemical Project in Ilam gathered in front of the entrance gate of this complex.
These workers, most of whom worked in connections, installation, and equipment sectors, became unemployed with the completion of the project.
The labor activist from Chovar emphasized that after years of effort in this project, “it is the right of local workers” to be prioritized for employment after the operation of the Arghavan Gosar Petrochemical Project in Ilam.
The history of petrochemical workers’ protests in recent years has led to violence and worker suicides, with six instances of economic suicides occurring in the past two years alone at the Chovar Petrochemical Plant.
