Livelihood Protests; Oil and Gas Workers Gather in Aghajari and Assaluyeh, 32 Days of Strikes by Pars Wagon Workers in Arak

According to reports received by Voice of America and published on social media, a group of official employees of the Aghajari Oil and Gas Exploitation Company gathered again in front of the management building of this company due to the continued negligence of responsible officials towards their demands. The main demands of this section of workers in Iran's oil and gas industry include "removal of salary caps, reform of minimum wage, removal of retirement benefits limitations, full implementation of Article 10, and priority demand for the defense of the oil pension fund." At the same time, a number of employees from refineries 10, 11, and 12 at the South Pars Gas Complex in Assaluyeh held a protest gathering in front of the administrative building of these refineries. According to the Council for Organizing Oil Contract Workers' Protests, the demands of these protesting employees, whose gathering continued on Tuesday, September 6, include "elimination of contracting companies, the right to form associations and hold gatherings and protests, immediate and unconditional reinstatement of two dismissed colleagues, implementation of 14 days of work followed by 14 days of rest, dismissal of incompetent and corrupt officials, removal of wage caps, removal of retirement benefits limitations, and revision of the pension fund's bylaws." In this regard, the information base of the official oil industry employees' demands (Oil Thoughts) wrote to the Minister of Oil that "the professional gatherings of oil industry colleagues will continue until a satisfactory result is achieved and all legal wages are paid according to the contract between the employee and the Ministry of Oil." Additionally, on Wednesday, a number of workers at the Pars Wagon factory in Arak protested again due to the lack of attention to their demands, chanting: "Workers die, but do not accept humiliation." The Civil Market Protest Telegram channel reported that the Pars Wagon workers are in "the 32nd day of their strike." This Telegram channel, which follows news related to professional and civil protests, also reported that workers on the production lines of Iran Radiator Company also went on strike in protest of the "breach of promise by the CEO and board of directors" and "all production line workers and some administrative staff" stopped work on Tuesday and Wednesday and gathered at the entrance of the complex. "Non-payment of wages and all benefits and bonuses, non-implementation of job classification plans, failure to calculate years of service and hard work, and postponement of insurance and tax matters" are among the demands of these protesters. According to this report, the managers of Iran Radiator Company "have taken commitments from retirees that they have no claims against the company from a specified date" and based on this, "they must work for several months without wages and benefits." According to the report, "the workers' protest was accompanied by a hunger strike" and while sitting in front of the factory entrance, "they announced they would stand by their rights and those of their colleagues until the end." Furthermore, Shascom employees, a subsidiary of the telecommunications company, gathered in Tabriz, the capital of East Azerbaijan province, demanding the payment of several months of overdue wages and addressing their demands. According to another report from the Civil Market Protest Telegram channel, workers from a municipal contracting company in the city of Tabas protested due to delays in their wage payments. The expansion of professional protests by various groups, including retirees, workers from various industries, teachers, defrauded investors, and nurses and healthcare workers, indicates increasing livelihood problems in Iran and the negligence of the Islamic Republic's officials. Jamshid Asadi, an economist, previously predicted in an interview with Voice of America regarding the rise of the misery index in Iran that the living conditions and economic situation would worsen from what it currently is.