Protests Over Livelihoods by Workers and Pensioners in Several Cities in Iran

Labor protests and pensioners' demonstrations continued this week in various cities across Iran. Groups of nurses, workers, pensioners, and citizens held protests in several cities, demanding attention to their issues and grievances. These protests took place in cities such as Ahvaz, Shush, Kermanshah, and Dashtestan. Additionally, livestock farmers in Yazd also staged a protest. In Shush, workers from the Khavarmiane Sugar Factory held a protest for the fourth consecutive day. According to reports and posts shared on social media, these workers are protesting against layoffs and are demanding attention to their demands, including the implementation of a job classification plan, payment for food allowances, accurate calculation of overtime, the use of local labor instead of non-local workers, and job security. They state that the authorities' indifference continues despite having protested for several days earlier in December. At that time, the Shush Security Council had mandated the employer to fulfill some of the workers' demands, but according to the protesters, these commitments were not met, and even three workers were laid off on the first of January. On the other hand, according to reports from HRANA, nurses at Razi Hospital in Ahvaz also protested in front of their workplace regarding difficult working and living conditions. They claim that high workloads, low salaries, mandatory overtime, delayed payments of bonuses, and incomplete implementation of the tariff law have put immense pressure on nurses. Nurses in various cities have long protested against low wages, months-long delays in payments, and the authorities' indifference to their professional issues. In another development, workers and pensioners of the Tabriz Machine-Making Group reacted to the privatization of the company by issuing a statement. The statement indicated that contrary to the promises made by the Minister of Economy and Finance of the Islamic Republic, the company has been secretly transferred under a lease-to-own agreement. Following the worsening livelihood crisis for Iranian citizens, economist Siamak Javadi previously told the Persian section of Voice of America that the Islamic Republic is pursuing 'the ideological goals of Shiism' and is spending Iran's wealth on 'the Shiite community' in the region instead of investing in the country. According to him, the livelihood problems for the Iranian people are 'deliberately' occurring and are not due to mismanagement, and 'all policies are against national interests.' Siamak Javadi emphasized that 'the priorities of the Islamic Republic are in Islamic propaganda, the seminary, and the repressive apparatus, not in the livelihoods of Iranians.' The U.S. State Department has also previously emphasized that the Islamic Republic prioritizes supporting terrorism and developing missile programs over the livelihoods and welfare of the Iranian people.