Home News Protests Iranians Continue Protests; at Least Five Rallies and Strikes on January 21

Iranians Continue Protests; at Least Five Rallies and Strikes on January 21

On January 21, Iranian citizens held at least five rallies in different provinces to voice their protest against officials’ mismanagement.

On January 21, Iranian citizens held at least five rallies in different provinces to voice their protest against officials’ mismanagement. In Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad, municipal workers protested officials over unnotified changes in their contracts which shaved around $60 from their monthly salaries.

Hoping to resolve their dilemmas by high-ranking officials like Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi and Education Minister Morteza Haji-Mirzaei, workers and preschool educators held rallies in front of the provincial judiciary bureau and governorate, respectively. However, they received no reply. In Khuzestan province, the education minister exited from another gate, avoiding facing protesters and hearing their dilemmas.

Rally of Municipal Workers
Rally of Municipal Workers

Rally of Municipal Workers

Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province—a group of municipal workers held a rally in front of the Provincial Governorate. They protested officials’ failure to change their recruitment conditions and lack of job security. They demanded the municipality clarify their job condition.

“No one hears our voice full of pain” and “No to discrimination against the municipality’s contract workers,” protesters had written on banners.

“In the past years, the municipality had made a deal with us. However, according to a directive, officials have changed our contracts and turned them into temporary deals,” a worker with more than 14 years of job experience said.

“Now, while our economic conditions have deteriorated due to inflation, high prices, and the coronavirus outbreak, and while we face enormous dilemmas in covering our daily expenditures, officials have issued new instructions and changed our contracts,” he added.

Another employee pointed to the new deals’ disadvantages, which deprive workers and employees of many rights and pensions. “With this change, [the government] has reduced our salaries by more than 15 million rials [$57.7],” he said.

Notably, there are around 250 contract workers and employees in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province, who are protesting new changes and losing their pensions and rights.

Rally of House Customers

Rally of House Customers

Alborz province—in Hashtgerd county, house customers held a rally in front of the Emran company affiliated with Maskan-e Mehr. They protested the company’s managing board for failing to deliver their residential units after ten years.

Protesters say that there is no forecast for receiving their pre-purchased houses despite paying their prices and waiting for them for around a decade.

Rally of Taxi and Bus Drivers

Rally of Taxi and Bus Drivers

Tehran province—drivers affiliated with the private Iranian Remote Bus and Taxi held a rally, protesting the managers’ failure to pay their overdue salaries. To protest the company’s unkept promises, they stopped working and parked their buses at Pasteurized Milk Square.

Notably, in recent years, workers and employees of the private sector have endured intolerable hardship. Private managers frequently refuse to pay these impoverished workers’ salaries, and the government does nothing for these people. These behaviors have prompted private sector employees to stop working and to struggle for their inherent rights.

Rally of Textile Workers

Rally of Textile Workers

Semnan province—in parallel with the judiciary chief’s visit to the province, workers of the Rangin Nakh thread factory held a rally in front of the Provincial Judiciary Office. They protested officials’ failure to pay their overdue salaries and severance paychecks.

“Before this rally, Rangin Nakh workers have held 13 similar gatherings in front of governmental offices in the province,” said a worker, adding, “There are around 50 workers in Rangin Nakh factory they have not received their severance rights and other pensions since 2013 when the factory was shut down.”

“Our employers did not pay our salaries and delayed rights. Meanwhile, provincial officials did nothing to resolve our dilemmas,” the worker continued.

“Some years ago, we got the order for confiscating the factory’s equipment to compensate for our overdue salaries. However, the Bank Melli and Social Security Organization have previously confiscated the factory’s equipment to offset their arrears. Therefore, our efforts remained fruitless,” said the worker.

“Aside from wage claims, for many years, these workers are classified as retirees due to hard job conditions. However, they cannot be retired because the employers do not pay retirement expenditures,” said another worker.

“Some of our colleagues have been let down by employers and received loans or borrowed some money to spend their retirement expenditures,” said another worker.

Rally of Preschool Educators

Rally of Preschool Educators

Khuzestan province—in tandem with Education Minister’s visit to the province, fired preschool educations held a rally in front of the Provincial Governorate. They gathered to voice their protest against the local department’s unfair deal with educators.

“Provincial Governor Gholamreza Shariati guided the minister out from another gate, which caused fired educators to spend more than four hours in the dead of winter and cold weather, waiting for the education minister’s exit,” said educators.

“We are preschool educators. We were taken aback by the sentence, ‘We don’t need you anymore,’ after two years of paying insurance payment from our pockets. We have referred to different offices but received nothing. Today, we gathered here in parallel with the minister’s presence at the governorate, and we hope that he resolves our dilemmas,” said a protester before being aware of the minister’s exit from another gate.

Iranians Continue Protests; at Least Four Rallies and Strikes on January 20

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