Protest of Petrochemical Workers in Khuzestan Declared Illegal

The judiciary of Khuzestan province issued a directive declaring the gathering of petrochemical workers demanding their overdue wages as 'illegal' and prohibited, warning that any disruption to company order would be dealt with severely. On Tuesday, November 23, the Tasnim news agency published an image of the directive from the Khuzestan judiciary regarding the Imam Khomeini port. The directive labeled recent protests by some workers and employees of various petrochemical companies as 'illegal' and warned dissenters that if these gatherings were repeated, they would face 'judicial action.' The Khuzestan judiciary stated that if workers have grievances regarding their rights, they can refer to the court and pursue their demands through legal channels. The directive deemed gatherings and disruptions in petrochemical companies as 'against the law and regulations' that should not be 'repeated.' This comes amid ongoing protests by many workers regarding their employment status and payment of wages and benefits in Iran's petrochemical industry. On October 17 of this year, 700 workers from Arvand Petrochemical Company refused to attend work following the CEO's failure to fulfill a promise regarding the payment of a 30% wage differential. On November 9, a group of Arvand petrochemical workers protested due to the non-implementation of job classification plans, non-payment of the 30% base wage, and the lack of a 35% increase in shift benefits. According to ILNA news agency, protesting workers have been working without written contracts for the past year and a half, and each time they inquired about their contracts, they were told, 'We want to implement the job classification plan, and therefore all contracts are currently verbal.' Protests by petrochemical workers are not limited to Khuzestan; workers from Isfahan, Ilam, and Assaluyeh in Bushehr province have also repeatedly protested in their cities or in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. In recent years, Iranian officials have attempted to prevent the public emergence of labor protests and demands by summoning and arresting labor activists in various cities and blocking the establishment of International Workers' Day marches. After an eight-year hiatus, Iranian workers received permission to hold International Workers' Day marches in May of this year.