Prior to 1 May March, Workers protests in various cities

NCRI

On the brink of International Workers’ Day, protests by oppressed workers spread in various cities across Iran.

In Marvdasht of Shiraz, southern Iran, a group of workers at meat plant staged a protest across from city’s employment office on April 19. This was part of their protest last week to press for their demands and return to work. The plant with 1,400 workers is currently closed.

In Kerman, on April 18 and 19, a group of workers from Bardsir Sugar factory gathered outside the factory and the governorate’s office in the city asking to return to work. Many of the workers from this factory have been laid off which at one time produced 120 tons of sugar per day. Some of them have not been paid for about two years and are going through great hardship.

By importing sugar, the clerical regime has virtually destroyed the sugar industry in Iran.
The Pipe Mill factory workers of Ahwaz, southern Iran, staged a protest on April 19. Zagros Terminal workers and bus drivers went on strike in this city to protest against not getting paid in the past several months. The protesters who enjoyed the support of passengers and local residents were attacked by the suppressive forces.

In Sanandaj, provincial capital of the Iranian Kurdistan, a group of street venders went to the city council on April 12 and 15, in protest against confiscation of their goods by the suppressive forces.

In the holy city of Qom on April 12, more than 50 workers from Hamid China factory, which has been closed down, gathered outside the employment office of the province to protest against non-payment of their wages and bonuses. They had been working in the factory for 20 years. Wages and bonuses of some 300 workers from this factory who were made redundant following the closure of the factory two years ago have not been paid.

On the same day in Abadan, southern Iran, more than 50 workers from district 2 municipality went on strike in protest against three months delay in their payments.

Protests by workers and representatives of 23 freight companies in Shalamcheh port in Khoramshahr, southern Iran, on April 14, and gathering of shopkeepers in Shahroud, northern Iran and farmers in Sar-e Pol-e Zahab, western Iran, on April 17 were among other cases of protest moves in recent days.

In the meantime, Tehran’s youths expressed their support to the workers’ rights and protests against the regime by writing “Workers’ Day – Down with Khamenei” and “workers are awake and hate Khamenei” in public places in Hashem-Abad district, Golchin Park and Afsarieh Highway and inside buses commuting to Toupkhaneh and Saadi in central Tehran.