Private Bus Drivers of Tehran Hold Protest

A number of private bus drivers from the Tehran Bus Company held a protest on Wednesday, August 1st. Prior to this, workers from a contracting company on an oil project in Hoveyzeh, Khuzestan province, had gone on strike on Tuesday. Additionally, workers from the Chavar Petrochemical Company in Ilam province protested against the unfulfilled promises of the company's managers regarding their demands. According to ILNA news agency, a group of private bus drivers from the Tehran Bus Company gathered on the morning of Wednesday, September 1st, to protest their job-related issues. These drivers claim that private companies are not adhering to the contracts initially signed and oppose the transfer of bus ownership to the drivers. Hormoz Najiyan, one of the protesting drivers, told ILNA on behalf of his colleagues: "Since 2006, when private companies entered the field, it was decided by the Cabinet that drivers entering this sector would, through a contract, become owners of the vehicles after paying leasing for 7 years." He added: "Drivers like me, who were on the verge of retirement from the main company, agreed to be bought out in the hope of owning a vehicle." Mr. Najiyan continued: "Seven years passed, and they said ten years must pass, then it became fifteen years, but not only did the vehicles not become the drivers' property, but other problems also arose for us. After all the hard work and money we paid back then, today we are left empty-handed." He accused private companies of "taking away the rights and benefits designated for drivers and bringing the situation to a point where drivers had to leave their vehicles in parking lots because they could not afford the repair costs." This private driver explained that these companies "did not provide drivers with charter services, Friday prayers, ticket cards, and advertising money, or withheld cheap supplies provided by various organizations from them, which got lost in their warehouses." According to this report, the problems faced by private drivers regarding wages have been such that sometimes their dues were not paid for 5 or 6 months; "the driver worked but the only money he received was the cash payments from passengers, which only covered the fuel costs of the vehicle." Hormoz Najiyan pointed out that "the costs of the vehicle are staggering and must be addressed. A tire costs more than twenty million tomans, and the cost of engine oil that must be changed every month is three and a half million tomans." He stated that the arrears increased to such an extent that expenses of one or two million tomans turned into expenses of 30-40 million tomans, leading to a situation where "more than three thousand buses were stopped in parking lots" and "due to the buses being idle, in many areas people have to wait for hours for a bus." After that, drivers turned to street vending and motorcycle delivery jobs. This protesting driver said: "We have dedicated our lives to this work. About 700 drivers filed complaints a few years ago, but our case is still gathering dust." The Council for Organizing Oil Contract Workers' Protests reported on Tuesday, August 31st, that a group of workers from the 'IGC' company, active in the 'Jafir Project' in Hoveyzeh, Khuzestan province, went on strike. According to this council, the workers protested against the non-payment of their wages for several months and the difficult living conditions. On the other hand, workers from the Chavar Petrochemical Company in Ilam criticized the unfulfilled promises of the managers of this industrial unit in a call to ILNA news agency. They stated that according to these promises, the job classification plan and contract organization were supposed to be implemented in July, but it has not yet been executed, and hundreds of contract workers remain in limbo. These workers referred to the suicide of Haidar Mohseni, a dismissed worker from the company, a few weeks ago and the protest gathering of workers, stating that several protesting workers were banned from entering and reprimanded, while it was supposed that the reasons for the worker's suicide would be addressed.