Continued Arrests in South Pars; Bushehr Governor's Office: 'Second Leader' of Workers' Strike Arrested

Ibrahim Arabzadeh, the Director General of the Security and Law Enforcement Office of the Bushehr Governor's Office, announced on Wednesday that forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have arrested another leader of the workers' strike in the South Pars oil region. He told the Tasnim news agency, which is close to the IRGC, that 'with the intelligence monitoring of the unknown soldiers of the time in the IRGC's intelligence organization, the second leader of the strikes in the South Pars oil regions has been arrested.' According to Tasnim, the 'main leader of the energy sector strikes,' who has been leading protests since 2020, had previously been arrested. The Director General of the Security and Law Enforcement Office of the Bushehr Governor's Office stated: 'These two arrested leaders have played a role in the recent strikes of South Pars workers and were active through both real and virtual spaces and are non-local.' Ibrahim Arabzadeh did not disclose the identities of these two individuals or the time and place of their arrests. Previously, Akbar Pourat, the political, security, and social deputy of the Bushehr governor, announced on May 14 that eight of the 'main internal leaders' of the strike had been identified and arrested, stating that the detainees were 'managing' the strike through 'virtual and real spaces.' This security official described the workers' strikes in the South Pars region as an 'organized' action linked to 'enemies and foreign networks.' He claimed that the workers' strike in the South Pars region had been 'broken' and that workers and employees of various companies had returned to their workplaces. However, he did not provide details about the identities of the detainees, the timing and location of the arrests, or the status of strikes in other provinces of Iran. Following this, the Council for Organizing Oil Contract Workers' Protests issued a statement on May 15, without explicitly confirming or denying the arrests, denying the end of the workers' strike in the South Pars region and stating that the strike continues. The Council for Organizing Oil Contract Workers' Protests labeled the statements of the Bushehr governor's deputy as 'false, a propaganda war, an attempt to sow discord among the ranks of the strike through the dissemination of false news, and to divert public attention from the strike.' In recent years, the security and judicial apparatus of the Islamic Republic has repeatedly confronted strikes and protests by workers in various regions of Iran. In this context, several labor activists such as Reza Shahabi, Davood Razavi, and Hassan Saidi remain in prison. Additionally, in some cases, representatives of protesting workers have been dismissed from their jobs. Nevertheless, such actions have not prevented the expansion of labor protests in Iran. The strike of project workers began on April 20 in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries and quickly spread to the steel, copper, and mining industries, encompassing several provinces of Iran, including Bushehr, Khuzestan, Ilam, Hormozgan, and Yazd. During this strike, based on videos published by the Central Oil and Gas Campaign and the Council for Organizing Oil Contract Workers' Protests, striking workers left their workplaces and returned home. They demanded the fulfillment of their professional demands, including a 79% wage increase, a 20 days on - 10 days off work schedule, workplace safety, improved dormitory standards, food quality, and healthcare conditions. According to the Council for Organizing Oil Contract Workers' Protests, striking workers also protested the 'security nature of the work environment' and demanded the freedom to hold gatherings and the elimination of contracting companies. The statement noted that the workers' strike continues: none of our demands have been addressed because they are nationwide and must be answered nationwide. Previously, government officials in Bushehr had announced plans to dismiss 4,000 striking workers and replace them, while many of the striking workers had already left their workplaces. The Council for Organizing Oil Contract Workers' Protests then reported on June 21 about a renewed strike at the Jahan Pars Petrochemical Company in protest against the 'breach of promise by the employer.' According to this report, the contract workers of the company, who had gone on strike in mid-May, returned to work with the 'false promise of a 50% wage increase,' but after resuming work, they found that their wages had only increased by one million tomans. As a result, the workers went on strike again.