Workers of Parand Power Plant Protest in Front of Ministry of Energy Building

On the morning of Sunday, August 25, more than 40 workers from the Parand Power Plant in Tehran province gathered in front of the Ministry of Energy building in Tehran to protest against the "significant reduction" of their wage benefits. According to the Iranian Labor News Agency, ILNA, these workers claim that since the ownership of this power plant was transferred to the private sector under the policies of Article 44 of the Constitution, the wage benefits of 140 workers at this power plant have significantly decreased compared to previous years. The protesting workers stated that as a result of this transfer, the MAPNA Company, as the new owner and employer of the Parand Power Plant, has reduced the monetary value of previous wage and welfare benefits such as production wages, bonuses, overtime pay, and housing and marriage loans. These workers reported that during the transfer of ownership and management of the Parand Power Plant, there was no mention of the employment status of the workers. They argue that this statement is made while, according to labor law, during the change of management and ownership of any workshop, the new employer is responsible for the obligations of the previous employer. According to the protesters, following this gathering, officials from the Ministry of Energy came among them and asked their representatives to participate in a meeting currently being held to address their demands. An unnamed official from MAPNA told ILNA that regardless of MAPNA being the owner of the Parand Power Plant, the responsibility for managing this power plant ultimately lies with the managers appointed by MAPNA, and therefore, they must currently answer for the reasons behind the dissatisfaction of the Parand Power Plant workers, while MAPNA, as the main owner, cannot comment on this issue at the moment. The 942-megawatt Parand Power Plant is located in the new city of Parand, 30 kilometers from the Tehran-Saveh highway. Previously, on May 24 of this year, more than 200 workers from the Tabriz Power Plant also gathered with similar protests in the premises of the East Azerbaijan Power Generation Management Company. According to ILNA, these workers protested against the government's renewed efforts to privatize the Tabriz Power Plant and the cutting of some of their benefits, such as overtime and bonuses, in the past nine months. The protesting workers stated that the privatization of the Tabriz Power Plant jeopardizes their job security. Privatization, which means transferring state enterprises to the private sector, began in Iran in the early 1990s, but Ali Tayebnia, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, states that only three percent of transfers have been genuinely made to the private sector, while the rest are transfers of ownership from one government to another or quasi-governmental entities. One of the staunchest critics of the privatization process, as it has occurred in Iran, is Abbas Akhoundi, the Minister of Roads and Urban Development, who has described this process as malformed.