By Pooya Stone
Iranians held 219 recorded protests across 74 cities and 24 provinces in June, according to the Iranian Resistance, which works out at an average of seven or eight per day. Let’s look at them in more detail.
Workers
Workers held 105 protests in 37 cities (averaging four per day), mainly over unpaid wages and insurance, lack of coronavirus-related safety protocols, and lack of job security. Here are just some of the workers who protested:
- Shahroud and Andimeshk Railway workers
- Hormozgan Power Station Operators
- postal workers
- miners from the mines of Amin Yar Faryab, Sirjan Chahar Gonbad Copper, East Alborz Coal Mining, Gol Gohar,
- Isfahan Tiling workers
- workers of the water supply project of Kayson Company
- Orhal Petrochemical Company workers
- National Iranian Steel Industrial Group workers
- Persian Gulf Transportation Company workers
- contract workers of the Rural Water and Sewage Project in Khuzestan province
- First Telecommunication Services of East Azerbaijan
- oil and gas workers in Tehran
- operators of electrical substations in Tehran
- Fars Telecommunication Company employees
- nurses in Tehran, Yasuj, Sanandaj, and Tabriz
- workers from the HEPCO Factory in Arak, the Golpayegan Diar Khodro factory, the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company in Shush, and the Iran Poplin factory in Rasht
The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF), which represents 10 million workers, expressed solidarity with Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers.
They wrote: “The IUF stands in full solidarity with the workers and their union and calls on the government to act immediately to ensure full payment of all wages and social security benefits, proper workplace protective measures and full access to health services for all workers and family members”.
While IndustriALL Global Union condemned the Iranian regime’s suppression of workers after reports that 42 Azarab Industries workers were sentenced to one year in prison, 74 lashes, and one month of forced labor.
Teachers
Teachers and educators held nine protests in Tehran and Ahwaz over job insecurity, poor living conditions, recruitment tests, and unpaid wages.
Pensioners
Pensioners held eight protests in four cities in June to demand unpaid pensions and benefits, as well as an increase in their pensions because most Iranian pensioners live under the poverty line.
Farmers
Farmers held five protests in four cities in June to protest being deprived ownership of their lands, a lack of accountability over farming problems, water rerouting, and the government’s failure to buy their products.
Other sectors
There were over 80 protests in 42 cities from other sectors of society, most notably the protests by locals in several areas over the lack of water.
Read More:
Iran’s Officials Fear People’s Fury
