Livelihood Protests; Steel Workers in Ahvaz, Nurses in Shiraz, and Telecommunications Retirees Gather in Several Cities

Livelihood protests continued on the seventh day of Esfand with gatherings of telecommunications retirees in several cities, a strike by steel workers in Ahvaz, and protests by nurses and healthcare staff in Shiraz. According to ILNA news agency, the protests by telecommunications retirees have been ongoing in at least Tehran, West Azerbaijan, Ardabil, Lorestan, Hormozgan, Gilan, Markazi, and Kurdistan provinces, marking 'the fifty-third gathering' of telecommunications retirees this year. Protests by retirees in Iran resumed in the early hours of this year and have continued throughout the year in various cities and on different days of the week. Telecommunications retirees have taken to the streets on Mondays as 'Protest Mondays.' Protesters in Tehran on the seventh day of Esfand chanted against mismanagement and the dominance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps over the telecommunications company, shouting: 'Instead of a working man, a soldier is sitting.' In Urmia, the capital of West Azerbaijan province, protesting retirees shouted: 'Telecommunications has been captured, it has been captured by bullies.' The lack of updates to welfare allowances in 2022 and 2023, management's disregard for Regulation 89, issues with supplementary insurance, and the non-payment of past claims at current rates are among the reasons for the protests by the telecommunications retirees. The executive regulation of Article 24 of the Civil Service Law, passed in 2010, concerns transferable duties and how to purchase services from the private sector, stipulating that 'until the obstacles to transfer are removed,' service provision to the workforce remains the responsibility of the executive body, i.e., the government. However, 13 years after the approval of this regulation, and considering the repeated and ongoing protests of these retirees, it seems that neither the 'obstacles to transfer' have been removed nor has the executive body fulfilled its duties towards the protesters. Additionally, according to reports received by VOA, workers of the National Industrial Steel Group in Ahvaz, on the seventh day of their continuous strike, gathered at the entrance of this industrial complex to prevent the CEO from entering the company. Simultaneously, the account 'Civil Market Protest' on X published a video of a gathering of nurses and healthcare staff in Shiraz, chanting 'Incompetent official, resign, resign.' This gathering of nurses and healthcare workers is in protest against low and unrealistic tariffs and mandatory unpaid overtime. According to a report from a government-affiliated news agency, the current poverty line for a family of four has exceeded 25 million tomans, and the Workers' House, a labor organization affiliated with the government, has emphasized that living conditions for people have become very difficult, stating that 'we will witness a hundred percent increase in inflation,' and inflation below 50 percent is no longer relevant. Siamak Javadi, an economics professor and researcher at the University of Texas, told VOA that in Iran, the engines of inflation are running, the budget deficit persists, and corruption in the Islamic Republic is structural and systemic. According to this expert, the Islamic Republic has systematically manipulated data to calculate the misery index.