Economic Protests in Iran; Nurses Go on Strike

Economic protests in Iran continued on Tuesday with nurses striking in Shiraz and Yazd, workers at the South Pars Oil and Gas Complex gathering for the fourteenth consecutive week, retirees protesting in Kermanshah, and contract workers from the Road Maintenance Administration demonstrating in Ilam. According to reports received by Voice of America and published on social media on Tuesday, November 15, nurses and staff at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences hung their uniforms on the railing of a building and attached placards outlining their demands. Simultaneously, nurses in Yazd continued their strike and protest. The protesting nurses chanted: "Nurse, shout out, demand your rights" and "Where did our tariffs go, into whose pockets did they go?" The intensification of nurses' problems in August of this year led to a continuous nationwide strike period, during which hundreds of nurses and medical staff from public hospitals began protests and strikes in at least 16 provinces in Iran, continuing until September. Reports indicate that the persistence of nurses' issues has led the head of the Nursing Organization to send a letter to the Minister of Health of the Islamic Republic, stating demands such as "increasing the number of nursing service packages," "increasing the relative value of services in some sectors," and "realistically increasing the monetary coefficient of nursing tariffs." The continuation of nurses' strikes has resulted in confrontations with the Islamic Republic's intelligence forces and the arrest of several nurses, prompting the U.S. State Department and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) to express concern on September 8 about the "unjust detention and condemnation" of protesting nurses in Iran. Alongside the nurses' strikes and protests on Tuesday, November 15, workers at the South Pars gas refineries also gathered for the fourteenth consecutive week. According to the Telegram channel Civil Market Protest, these workers are protesting the government's failure to fulfill promises regarding job classification, organizing the movement of administrative and support workers, and managing the situation of contract vehicle drivers. Protests by contract workers at the South Pars gas refineries are known as "Protest Tuesdays." In recent years, protests in Iran's oil and gas industries have been on the rise. The economic protests on Tuesday were not limited to the strikes and gatherings of nurses and oil and gas workers; retirees from various organizations also gathered in Kermanshah that day. The protesting retirees chanted: "We want neither war nor slaughter, we want lasting welfare." They also demanded the release of Ahoo Daryaee, a student protesting against mandatory hijab. Reports from Ilam indicate that contract workers from the Road Maintenance Administration in the province gathered in front of the provincial inspection organization to protest reduced wages and benefits, lack of contracts, unpaid welfare and demands, and the authorities' indifference to their economic situation. The Civil Market Protest Telegram channel announced that these difficult economic and living conditions have persisted for nearly eight months without any contracts being signed, and recently, five million tomans have been deducted from each of their salaries. The expansion of protests among various groups, including retirees, workers from various industries, teachers, defrauded investors, and nurses and medical staff, indicates an increase in economic problems in Iran and the indifference of the Islamic Republic's authorities. The continuation of economic protests in Iran coincides with escalating disputes between Israel and the Islamic Republic, and turmoil in Iran's financial markets continues. In this context, economist Hassan Mansour previously told the Persian section of Voice of America that next year's budget plan will "increase inflation and tighten the living circle."