Protests by Official Oil Workers and Contract Workers at South Pars Gas Refinery

Reports from oil and gas regions in Iran indicate that protests by official oil workers and contract workers at the South Pars gas refineries took place on Tuesday, October 23, coinciding with security confrontations with official employees in the special economic zone of Assaluyeh. The Telegram channel 'Oil Thoughts', which publishes issues and protests of official oil workers, reported that as the 'gathering of protesting colleagues began in the Assaluyeh special economic zone', several of them were arrested by 'the abusive behavior of masked representatives of the prosecutor's office and intelligence' and transferred to special forces vehicles. According to this report, following protests from other gathering employees, 'the officials were forced to release their colleagues, and ultimately the gathering took place, but due to the tense atmosphere created by the agents, it was not possible to use several prepared banners and the sound system.' Oil Thoughts published photos and videos of the protests by employees of companies such as SOGC, SPGC, Fajr Refinery, Nasr operational platform in Sirri, offshore platforms in Sirri, Pars Oil and Gas, Khark offshore platform, Petrochemical Research and Technology Company in Mahshahr, Ilam offshore platform, and oil regions in Ahvaz. Official oil workers are protesting the 'lack of follow-up by the Minister of Oil in implementing the Islamic Consultative Assembly's resolution to exempt employees in operational areas from the oppressive salary cap law.' They are also demanding the 'removal of unfair deductions and full payment of legal benefits that have caused widespread demotivation among human resources', 'removal of the retirement cap and full payment of years of service', 'refund of unjustly collected taxes according to existing laws', 'full implementation of Article 10 and full payment of its back pay', and 'not merging the oil pension fund with other bankrupt funds.' Meanwhile, according to the Telegram channel 'Workshop', which publishes labor news in Iran, contract workers at the South Pars gas refineries protested and went on strike for the twelfth week. These protests, known as 'Protest Tuesdays', occur every Tuesday 'in protest against the government's failure to fulfill workers' demands.' The Workshop noted that 'in the past five weeks, workers at the Parsian gas refinery in Mehr County, Fars Province, have also joined the Protest Tuesdays of South Pars workers' and wrote that workers are demanding 'the reinstatement of Hojjat Rezaei, the dismissed representative of the workers', implementation of previous agreements regarding entitled leave and payment for camp rights', 'proper implementation of job classification plans for all contract workers', 'changes in travel conditions and wages for contracted drivers and implementation of classification plans for non-owner drivers', and 'non-discriminatory implementation of 14 days of work and 14 days of rest for administrative and support workers.' In recent years, protests in Iran's oil and gas regions have been on the rise. This trend, alongside the expansion of protests by workers, retirees, teachers, nurses, and other wage earners, has led to security and judicial confrontations by the Islamic Republic. Nevertheless, such confrontations have not prevented the expansion of protests, especially as the living conditions of workers and other wage earners have become very difficult. Currently, the minimum monthly wage for workers subject to labor law, married with children, is about 11 million tomans. This is while, according to some estimates by labor activists who previously belonged to government institutions, the livelihood basket has reached about 37 million tomans per month.