Three-Week Tent Protest by Workers of Mahabad Agricultural and Industrial Complex

ILNA reported on Tuesday, December 30, that workers of the Mahabad Agricultural and Industrial Complex have been camping in front of the factory for the past three weeks in protest against the unmet demands of their profession. ILNA noted receiving 'numerous calls' from the workers regarding the non-payment of their wage claims, stating that they have only received partial payments since June 2015 and their wage claims remain unpaid. According to the report, about 100 workers have set up tents in front of the factory and on the main road. These workers, who number over 40 to 50 per shift, are taking turns staying in the tents due to the severe cold by lighting fires. Previously, Mokrian News Agency reported that these workers held a peaceful gathering due to non-payment of their full wages, insurance issues, wage benefits, and severance pay. The workers participating in this gathering told ILNA that contrary to officials' claims of resolving their issues, nothing has changed, and for this reason, they are calling for local and provincial officials to address their problems. The Mahabad Agricultural and Industrial Complex was privatized several years ago. ILNA also pointed out that in addition to the workers of the Mahabad Agricultural and Industrial Complex, workers from the Mahabad Livestock and Industrial Complex are also present at this gathering. In recent years, factory workers in various regions of Iran have gone on strike, gathered, and marched due to unpaid wages, work benefits, dismissals, and their insurance rights, or factory closures. According to Mehr News Agency, the number of complaints received by labor dispute boards from workers last year exceeded one million and 85 thousand cases. The majority of these complaints, amounting to one million and 21 thousand, were related to reinstatement, overdue wages, wage discrepancies, bonuses, household consumables allowances, changes in working conditions, overtime, housing rights, job classification plans, family allowances, social insurance rights, shift work, and entitled leave, with the remainder concerning other issues. In this context, ILNA reported that in the latest instance of labor protests, dozens of workers from Saman Tile Company in Borujerd gathered on Tuesday morning in protest against 'the indifference of factory managers regarding the non-payment of their 20 months of wages in front of the Borujerd governor's office. In this regard, reports from some media indicate that workers from construction projects of the Golestan Municipality, Bouyer-Ahmad Steel Factory, Pars Yazd Refractory Products Factory, Fasa Sugar Factory, Marun Petrochemical Plant, Qazvin Glass Factory, Shirkuh Tile and Ceramics, Bushehr Petrochemical Complex, Langeroud Municipality, and Isfahan Polyacryl Factory have also engaged in labor protests in recent weeks. Hossein Zolfaqari, the Deputy for Security and Law Enforcement of the Ministry of Interior, announced last week that social, labor, and professional protests in Iran have seen a '69 percent increase' in just the last three years. This official stated, 'People have come and expressed their views freely, but we have not had any social crisis that turned into security issues, and these protests have been well managed.' Despite these statements, reports of security and judicial crackdowns on labor protests in recent years have emerged, and a number of workers and labor activists have been arrested and sentenced to prison or even lashes by the judiciary in various cities across Iran. These crackdowns have drawn protests from labor organizations in Iran, labor unions worldwide, and human rights organizations globally. In this context, the Tehran prosecutor accused 'enemies' of exploiting labor protests.