Nurses' Strike Continues in Dozens of Public Hospitals Despite Security Pressures

The strike and protests by nurses in dozens of public hospitals in at least 20 cities across Iran continued on Wednesday, August 31, despite security pressures and the arrest of several protesting nurses in various cities. While Masoud Pezeshkian, the head of the 14th government, has yet to respond to these protests, labor organizations, teachers, and retirees have recently issued statements in support of the nurses, condemning government actions against them and calling for the fulfillment of the nurses' demands in Iran. Additionally, retirees from various sectors in Kermanshah expressed their support for the nurses' strike during their gathering on Tuesday. Furthermore, the Telegram channel 'Manifesto of Freedom, Welfare, Equality' stated: 'The oppressive rulers of the religious capitalist system have become so frightened and agitated that instead of listening to the nurses' rightful demands, they have resorted to suppressing and breaking their strike; from sending strikebreakers from military hospitals and students to threatening and intimidating striking nurses.' The channel also referred to the attack by security forces on the protesting nurses and their arrests. According to the report, if the nurses' struggle 'does not yield results and is met with the usual promises and simultaneous repression, it will escalate to higher levels of political struggle; levels that are currently the goal of the majority of society.' Meanwhile, based on videos shared on social media, nurses from public hospitals on Wednesday in cities such as Isfahan, Tehran, Kermanshah, Dehdasht, Marivan, Tabriz, Rasht, Ahvaz, Yasuj, and Qazvin held protests demanding improvements in their working and living conditions. During these gatherings, slogans were chanted, including 'Enough promises - our table is empty,' 'We don't want 20 tomans for overtime,' 'Law Enforcement - you will also be hospitalized,' 'Incompetent official - resign, resign,' and 'Strike, strike - we will take back our rights.' According to ILNA news agency, nurses protested against the non-implementation of the tariff law, mandatory overtime, and meager wages, stating that the Ministry of Health must hear their voices and meet their demands. Meanwhile, reports from the Telegram channel 'Progressive Students' indicate that due to the nurses' strike, their duties in hospitals under the Yasouj University of Medical Sciences have been assigned to medical students, who have been threatened with grade deductions and extended internships for protesting this arrangement. The Coordination Council of Nurses' Protests reported that, according to 'some sources,' the head nurse of Ward 10 at Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran, Zahra Tamadan, was arrested on Tuesday, August 30, by agents of the Islamic Republic's intelligence in the hospital's emergency room. The council stated that her arrest was on charges of 'participating in protests by healthcare staff and encouraging personnel to strike.' The report also mentioned that several other healthcare staff from this hospital had been arrested. Earlier, according to Mehr news agency, Ehsan Anqi, the cultural and social deputy of the Islamic Republic's police command in Markazi province, stated on Tuesday, August 29, that two individuals he referred to as 'disruptors' of the nurses' gathering in Arak had been arrested. This police official claimed that these two were 'not part of the healthcare staff.' On Tuesday, a video was released showing nurses protesting against the arrest of an individual by government agents. The Telegram channel 'Post Keshik' (Medical Students Club) also reported on Tuesday that following the nurses' protests in various hospitals across Iran, including Amir Alam Hospital in Tehran, several of them had been dismissed for participating in these protests, adding: 'This manner of dealing with individuals who had peaceful professional protests has led to increased discontent and broader protests within the nursing community.' In this context, according to the 'Civil Market Protest' channel, following the nurses' protest gathering at public hospitals in Tabriz, some of these nurses received threatening text messages. Additionally, Mohammad Sharifi-Moqaddam, the Secretary-General of the Nurses' House, stated on Tuesday to Khabar Online that 'for the first time in the 100-year history of modern nursing in Iran, protests have taken the form of a work stoppage,' adding: 'Nurses know that when they strike, they are threatened with dismissal. They say, fine, dismiss us. This means the situation has reached a point where nurses do not care if they are dismissed for striking.' In this regard, Khabar Online quoted Hamid Soori, an epidemiologist and university professor, stating that the nurses' protests were professional and should not be allowed to take on a political hue. Mr. Soori said: 'Turning a professional protest into a political-security crisis benefits no one, and it is better to resolve it through appropriate dialogue between the government and representatives of the protesters instead of involving security forces.' He pointed out: 'The lack of justice in salary and benefits is a fundamental problem in the country that if the 14th government does not address it fundamentally and does not adopt appropriate solutions, we will likely witness protests from other sectors like nurses every day.' This university professor added: 'The nurses' strikes and protests are turning into a national crisis, and this is not a favorable development for the 14th government in its early days.' The nurses' protests regarding their difficult working and living conditions began about two weeks ago in Alborz province and then spread to various regions of Iran. According to the website of the Islamic Republic Nursing Organization, Laghman Sharifi, a member of the Supreme Council of Nursing, stated on Wednesday that most of the nurses' problems are 'due to discriminatory policies and conflicts of interest within the Ministry of Health.' He emphasized that the issues facing nurses are numerous, adding: 'The Ministry of Health has implemented policies in recent years that have left nurses with no hope for improvement, and this is not related to one or two ministers; it has been a continuous trend.' Laghman Sharifi criticized the implementation of the tariff law and the law on hard and harmful jobs, as well as the neglect of 'project staff' after the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the incorrect implementation of the tariff law is one of the significant issues for nurses. He emphasized that tariffs of one million and two million tomans for nurses are completely unacceptable and added that the tariff law is implemented in service packages in hospitals. Accordingly, 'for a nursing team that cares for a patient for 24 hours, the service tariff for the entire team in general wards is 270 thousand tomans, which, after deductions, leaves 200 thousand tomans for the nursing team for 24 hours.' The head of the Ministry of Health's committee in the government's steering council described the 'diminishing hope in the nursing community' and characterized the situation of nurses migrating or leaving their jobs as 'terrible.' According to a report from the Ham-Mihan newspaper on Tuesday, Ali Jafarzadeh, the head of the Islamic Republic Nursing Organization, announced that with the emphasis of the Minister of Interior, 7 trillion tomans had been allocated for paying personnel arrears, increasing nurses' overtime pay, and hiring 25,000 staff in the Ministry of Health. Meanwhile, according to the Telegram channel 'Civil Market Protest,' a statement has been released by the nursing community of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, stating that these nurses 'will temporarily cease their protests and gatherings to show their goodwill to the people and officials, provided that their demands are met as outlined and within a specified timeframe.' Nevertheless, the statement emphasized: 'If the demands that hinder the provision of quality services to the people are not met, it will create the right for nurses to decide on how to continue their protests.'