On Sunday, July 7, Iranian workers and retirees held protest rallies and strikes, demanding improvements in their living conditions, salary increases, and relief from poverty and the ongoing economic crisis.
Drawing attention to the colorful promises made by presidential election candidates last month, the protesters expressed their frustration over decades of unfulfilled commitments and threatened to initiate more widespread protests and strikes in the coming months if their conditions do not improve.
In Tehran, retirees from the Social and National Security Organization gathered in front of the organization’s building, holding placards that read, “Only on the street, we get our rights,” highlighting that their salaries are less than 50% of the poverty line. They also demanded equal rights for retired men and women.
Retirees from the Isfahan steel industry marched along Neshat Street, chanting slogans such as “theft and looting is their only work” and “Reduce theft, our problem will be solved.”
A group of unemployed workers from the Arghvangostar Petrochemical Project in Ilam gathered in front of the governorate building, seeking clarity on their job status. One protester told ILNA:
“We, about 100 native workers of the region, are following up on our return to work with city and provincial authorities, but unfortunately, no action has been taken regarding our employment status.”
He also described the outcome of a three-day gathering in front of the central building of Persian Gulf Holding in Tehran:
“To continue cooperation in this petrochemical sector, we shared our problems with the officials of the security department of Persian Gulf Holding as the employer, but it has not yielded any results for us yet.”
Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, also known as Persian Gulf Holding, is a regime-operated organization involved in the investment and management of refineries, petrochemical complexes, and factories producing chemical and petroleum products. The company recently acquired Tehran’s Esteghlal Football Club.
In Rudbar, Gilan province, nearly 60 contractor workers from the water and sewage network, who have not received their salaries for the past nine months, continued their protest for the twelfth consecutive day on the morning of July 7. Workers from the municipality of Rudbar also held a protest rally, expressing concerns about their employment and the possibility of becoming unemployed.
Over the past months, various labor organizations have called for workers to boycott the recent regime’s elections. However, on July 7, Hassan Sadeghi, head of the labor committee of the election headquarters for Masoud Pezeshkian, claimed in a statement that workers and their organizations played a significant role in Pezeshkian’s victory in the presidential elections.
On Sunday, social security retirees in Shush and Kermanshah gathered in front of their respective Social Security Organization buildings, demanding pensions based on the real poverty line, free and high-quality healthcare, and appropriate welfare services as part of their legal rights.
Other protests took place across the country, including by Kerman coal retirees, Ahvaz social security retirees, Haftpeh workers, Khuzestan steelworkers and retirees, Mazandaran steel industry retirees, and Damghan city retirees. These groups came to the streets on July 7 to protest rampant poverty, high inflation, and inadequate rights.
The widespread protests highlight the growing dissatisfaction among Iranian workers and retirees with the government’s handling of the economic crisis and their unmet demands for better living conditions.
