Payment of Two Months' Wages to Hepco Workers After One Month of Strike; 'Factory Owner Arrested'

Simultaneously with the payment of two months' wages to one thousand workers of Hepco Company in Arak, a provincial official in Markazi Province announced that the main owner of this production unit has been arrested. The workers of this production unit had been on strike, gathering, and marching for over a month to receive four months of unpaid wages. They are also protesting the privatization of this factory and are demanding its return to state ownership. ILNA news agency had previously reported that Hepco's problems began when it was privatized in 2007. The labor protest of one thousand Hepco workers reached its one-month mark on Tuesday, February 7. According to ILNA, during their month-long labor protests, the one thousand workers of Hepco marched several times in the streets of Arak, and some workers set up tents in Arak's Martyrs' Square on February 6 to demonstrate their protest. The state news agency IRNA also quoted Mahmoud Zamani Ghomi, the governor of Markazi Province, stating that the arrears of Hepco's employees and workers will be paid by the end of the current year. ISNA news agency also noted that the governor criticized the privatization of Hepco in 2007 and called for the production unit to be temporarily under government care. At the same time, Shakrollah Hassan Beigi, the political deputy of the Markazi governor, announced that the main owner of Hepco Company has been arrested and is obligated to pay all legal claims of the workers by the end of the current year. Previously, a Hepco worker told ILNA that the private shareholder bought Hepco in 2007 for 700 billion rials and was supposed to pay the remaining amount in installments over four years and six months after paying 20% of the total. However, according to this worker, more than five years have passed since the end of this shareholder's commitment, and he has no intention of paying his financial debts to the factory and its workers. In recent years, news and reports have emerged in the media indicating the dire situation of a significant number of privatized factories. ILNA reported on Wednesday that representatives of workers from two agricultural and industrial complexes in Mahabad, a subsidiary of Green Investment Company, sent a letter to the Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, requesting attention to their demands. The letter referred to the privatization of the subsidiaries of the Green Investment Company in Mahabad in 2007, stating that the living conditions, job security, and wages of their workers have worsened every year. The authors of the letter requested the payment of more than a year and a half of unpaid wages, insurance dues, severance pay, and end-of-year bonuses for the workers. Reports indicated that workers have been gathering in front of the Mahabad agricultural and industrial complex for two months. Previously, Tasnim news agency reported on February 7 about the situation of Niloufar Tile Factory in Isfahan, noting that 16 months of wages for 800 workers at Niloufar Tile Factory have not been paid, leading to several protests in front of the factory. According to Tasnim, the Social Security Organization sold Niloufar Tile Factory to four individuals in installments, and since then, only two installments have been paid, with the remainder unpaid. One worker stated that on the first day when the four partners came to the factory, everything was good; the warehouses were full of tiles that were selling well, and the technical warehouse was full of goods and machines working without defects. However, since the day these four partners set foot in the factory, they sold everything and did not spend a single rial on the factory.