A group of retirees gathered on Tuesday, June 11, in Tehran and Kermanshah to protest against poor living conditions and the lack of attention to their demands. Simultaneously, contract workers at Isfahan Petrochemical and Firuzabad Sodium Carbonate went on strike.
According to reports from professional sources, a number of retirees from the National Pension Fund, Social Security, and Medical Sciences held a protest in front of relevant institutions, including the Organization of Planning and Budget.
In these protests, which coincide with the Iranian regime’s preparations for elections to determine Ebrahim Raisi’s successor from the Guardian Council’s approved candidates, the retired protesters chanted: “Lying candidate, where are your promises?”
At the large gathering of retirees in Tehran in front of the Organization of Planning and Budget, slogans were also chanted: “Whoever opposes the teachers, will fall; where are the officials?”
The retired protesters also chanted: “Our strength is our unity; ranking is our right.”
Reports indicate that in the Kermanshah gathering, slogans included: “Scream, scream about all this oppression,” “Let go of the headscarf, think of us,” “Unemployment, inflation, the scourge of the people,” “Imprisoned teacher must be freed,” and “Imprisoned worker must be freed.”
At the same time, workers at Kaveh Sodium Carbonate Company in Firuzabad, Fars Province, went on strike for the third consecutive day, protesting “wage and benefits conditions.”
Earlier, the regime’s ILNA news agency quoted “a labor source” in Semnan Province saying: the main demands of the workers are “the formation of an Islamic labor council, a wage increase with overtime pay, bonuses, and other job benefits emphasized in their protest last week.”
One of the workers at this factory told ILNA: “In March, we held several labor protests, requesting the management to form a labor institution and increase wages. With the intervention of officials, the employer promised to fulfill this within a few months, but except for the formation of an Islamic labor council, the rest of the workers’ demands were ignored.”
Additionally, a group of contract workers employed at Esfahan Petrochemical went on strike and held a protest on Tuesday, objecting to not receiving their wages.
Moreover, a number of laid-off workers from the Ilam Arghwan Gostar Petrochemical Company project held a protest in front of the entrance to the complex on Tuesday.
These workers, most of whom worked in connections, installation, and equipment, became unemployed with the completion of the project.
According to ILNA, they said that after years of effort on this project, it is their right to be employed after the Ilam Arghwan Gostar Petrochemical starts operations.
Economic protests in Iran continue as news sources have announced that the Iranian regime’s government has not only failed to control inflation but has also broken an 80-year record, with the inflation rate exceeding 52%.
According to the decree of the Supreme Labor Council, the minimum wage for workers subject to the labor law, who are married and have children, with an increase of about 20 million rials (approximately $33), is about 110 million rials (approximately $184) this year. However, this wage is not paid to workers who are not subject to the labor law.
