More than 1,000 Iranian oil workers and their family members, from all across the country especially the southern oil fields, protested outside the president’s offices in Tehran Nov. 1. They were joined by electrical workers at power plants who face similar issues.
Chanting “Enough with the promises — our tables are empty,” they demanded an end to the exploitative contract labor system and to discrimination in hiring, as well as for higher wages and better work conditions. Another popular chant was “Tanks, guns, fireworks — contractors must be gone,” meaning no matter what you throw at us, we’ll keep on fighting.
Contract workers, who have fewer rights and benefits than permanent workers, make up as much as 75% of the workforce in the oil and gas industry in Iran.
“We demand direct employment and the elimination of contractors,” workers said, according to a report on the protest by the government-funded Iranian Labour News Agency. “The essential duties of the oil industry rest on us, but the benefits and privileges go to others.”
The Council for Organizing Protests of Oil Contract Workers said that the workers have been fighting for four years for the abolition of the contract system. That is also the demand, the council said, in numerous other industries, like telecommunications, power plants, mining, auto plants and steel mills, where workers face the same problem.
The demonstration was well-organized, with many protesters arriving on chartered buses. Marshals wore vests showing the state-owned oil company logo, with the words “oppressed contract worker” underneath.