Thousands of nurses in Iran have joined strikes that began Aug. 2 and spread to over 60 hospitals and health centers in 40 cities across the country. Hundreds of EMTs have joined the strike. Along with some supporters, they lined both sides of a busy street in front of Isfahan University’s hospital Aug. 31, above, chanting “No to forced overtime” and “We’ve heard a lot of promises, but haven’t seen action.”
The government arrested a handful of strikers in Arak, Isfahan and other cities, including Zahra Tamandon, the head nurse at Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran on Aug. 21.
The government deposited money Sept. 2 to cover months of unpaid wages to nurses, hoping to quell the strike. “Nurses Criticize the Deposit of Paltry Amounts Into Their Accounts,” the headline in the Iranian Labour New Agency reported the next day. That doesn’t touch the real root of the problem, one nurse said.
They say wages are too low, the patient load too high, and they face chronic shortages of medicine and other basic supplies.
“One hour of overtime for a nurse is equivalent to the price of an ice cream,” strike placards say, reports the Nurses House, a government-recognized association of nurses.
“Iranian nurses have clearly understood that they can achieve their goals only by united and massive protests,” reported Tehran-based Economy 24 news reports. And the solidarity they get “shows that the problem of nurses has become a wider social issue.”
The nurses’ struggle is inspiring other labor battles. More than 1,000 workers at the Pars locomotive and rail car factory in Arak briefly clashed with police Sept. 2 during a march at the end of their fifth week on strike. Miners in Tabas, in eastern Iran, went on strike Aug. 28 protesting low wages.
These spreading labor actions show the reactionary Tehran regime is incapable of convincing workers they should sacrifice to support Hamas.