Telecommunications Pensioners Protest in 10 Provinces; Oil and Gas Workers Strike

On Tuesday, October 8, protests by telecommunications pensioners took place in at least 10 provinces across Iran. Simultaneously, workers in the oil and gas industries in Kangan, Assaluyeh, and Chavar went on strike. Additionally, housing victims in Tehran, Zanjan, and Hashtgerd, as well as teachers in Nasimshahr, held gatherings. According to reports received by VOA and published by trade sources, the weekly protests by telecommunications pensioners continued this week in at least the provinces of East Azerbaijan, Tehran, Isfahan, Ilam, Fars, Kurdistan, Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Ardabil, and Gilan. These protests are against the injustices of the Executive Headquarters and the Basij Cooperative as the current owners of telecommunications, as well as the "non-implementation of legal resolutions, including the enforcement of employment and welfare regulations." The Iranian Pensioners Council reported that protests this week were held in Tabriz, Tehran, Isfahan, Ilam, Shiraz, Bijar, Sanandaj, Ahvaz, Marivan, Ardabil, Rasht, and several other areas. In the protests and marches of the protesting telecommunications pensioners in various cities across Iran, slogans such as "The company is a broken piece, eat and eat in your work," "Telecommunications, have some shame, implement the regulations," "We will come on Tuesdays until we get our rights," "Implementing the regulations is our legitimate right," "This level of injustice has never been seen by a nation," and "What happened to the profitable company?" were chanted. The Executive Regulations of Article 24 of the Civil Service Law, passed in 2010, concerns the transferable duties and how to purchase services from the private sector, under which "until the obstacles to transfer are removed," the provision of services to the workforce remains the responsibility of the executive body, i.e., the government. However, 14 years after the approval of this regulation, and considering the repeated and ongoing protests of these pensioners, it seems that neither the "obstacles to transfer" have been removed nor has the executive body fulfilled its duties towards the protesters. The weekly protests by telecommunications pensioners have been ongoing for months. The lack of updates to welfare allowances in 2022 and 2023, management's disregard for the 1989 regulations, issues with supplementary insurance, and the non-payment of past claims at current rates are among the reasons for these pensioners' protests. Concurrently with the protests of telecommunications pensioners, a group of workers in the oil and gas industries protested on Tuesday at the sites of two Pars companies in Kangan, site one in Assaluyeh, Fajr Jam Gas Refinery in Bushehr, and the tenth refinery of the South Pars Gas Complex. The Telegram channel "Civil Market Protest" also reported on the gathering of workers from Arghavan Gostar Petrochemical in front of the courthouse in Chavar County, Ilam Province. According to this report, the gathering of these workers was in protest against the detention of their colleagues. The protests by Arghavan Gostar Petrochemical workers in Ilam have been ongoing for about three months, and the workers are demanding "reinstatement and clarification of their job status." During this gathering, two individuals, including the father of one of the protesters, attempted unsuccessful self-immolation. Continuing the protests over living conditions, a group of applicants for the housing cooperative of regional electricity workers in Tehran protested in front of the Supreme Court regarding the project in the new city of Mahestan in Hashtgerd. Additionally, applicants for housing in the "Project M6" in Zanjan, who have given their money to the Jihad Nasr Company since 2020 in exchange for housing units, gathered in front of the Zanjan governorate due to the lack of accountability from urban development officials. A number of protesting teachers also gathered in Nasimshahr, south of Tehran, in front of the Education Department. This gathering was in protest against "the lack of round-trip transportation to villages" in the Akbarabad area and its surrounding villages. According to the Civil Market Protest Telegram channel, the Education Department annually provides transportation for teachers in rural areas and counties of Tehran Province, but this year they said, "We have no budget, and the ministry does not grant permission for transportation for teachers in rural areas and cities around Tehran." According to this report, "The head of the Education Department of Baharestan 2 told the protesting teachers that he is following up to obtain permission for transportation and promised that "if transportation is not established by the end of the week, I will get a bus and we will all go to the ministry to protest." The expansion of protests among various groups, including pensioners, workers from various industries, teachers, housing victims, and nurses and healthcare workers, indicates an increase in living problems in Iran and the indifference of the Islamic Republic's officials. The continuation of living protests in Iran occurs amid increasing likelihood of retaliatory responses from Israel to the Islamic Republic's missile attack last week, while financial markets in Iran are experiencing turmoil with the continued rise in the prices of the dollar and gold, and the decline of indices in the stock market for the seventh consecutive working day. In this context, economist Siamak Javadi told VOA that financial and monetary markets are like a knife and cheese with any kind of instability, and they flee from it. He stated that due to the shock from the war, capitalists are withdrawing from their rial assets, and at least temporarily, the price of the dollar is rising, and currently, the Islamic Republic has managed to keep the dollar price artificially high through "massive currency injections."