Workers Gather at South Pars Refineries; Third Party Employees: We Will Continue Protests

The Council for Organizing Protests of Informal Oil Workers announced that the weekly protest of Third Party employees continued on Tuesday, August 23, with employees from "supporting contracting companies" gathering once again at several refineries of this complex. According to the Telegram channel of the "Council for Organizing Protests of Informal Oil Workers," Third Party employees and supporting contracting company staff at refineries three, five, seven, nine, ten, and twelve of the South Pars Gas Complex stated during their gathering that "we will continue our protests." The protesting workers are demanding the "complete elimination of contracting companies, the right to assemble and protest, and the immediate and unconditional reinstatement of our colleagues," including "Hojjat Rezaei from South Pars and Yasser Ahmadinejad from the National Drilling Company." Additionally, the protesters are calling for the "implementation of previous agreements," including "entitlement leave and payment for camp fees (costs for cutting off welfare facilities) that have been unilaterally altered by some officials of the complex, proper implementation of the job classification plan and a fair payment system equivalent to official and contractual staff following previous agreements with the Ministry of Oil, implementation of the job classification plan for non-owner drivers of rental vehicles, organizing traffic, and creating job security for them." The protesting workers also demand "non-discriminatory implementation of a 14 days on, 14 days off work schedule for administrative and support staff, and a complete revision of the unjust wage decree of the Supreme Labor Council," stating: "Our strikes as project workers will continue to pursue our demands." The report mentions that on Saturday, August 20, about 60 colleagues at the Kangan Development Petrochemical Project (Site 2 of the Pars Special Economic Zone) went on strike due to demands from June and July and gathered in front of the petrochemical plant after stopping work. The protesting Third Party employees say, "The elimination of contractors is a nationwide demand of us oil workers," and "especially working in the scorching summer conditions, poor food quality, camp conditions, and the level of hygiene in work and living environments is a shared pain of all of us workers." Concurrently with these workers' protests, an official news agency in Iran reported that due to the provision of unhealthy food, 180 workers in Assaluyeh were poisoned, and one of them died. Workers in various regions of Iran have repeatedly protested and gone on strike in recent years over their living conditions. These protests are mainly related to the non-timely payment of wages, insurance rights, low wages, layoffs, and the continuation of privatization policies.