NCRI – Over 500 Tabriz Petrochemical Company workers gathered outside the employment office in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz on Wednesday to protest against the plant’s director preventing their entry to the factory after refusing to sign contacts which they regard discriminatory.
The director of Tabriz Petrochemical Company has barred the workers from the repairs and maintenance department from entering the plant since the beginning of the Iranian New Year on March 21.
One protesting worker said: “The contract workers at Tabriz Petrochemical are no longer willing to work based on yearly temporary contracts and getting paid a quarter of what those hired officially earn. Workers consider this discriminatory.”
Workers insist that since their jobs are permanent the director is obliged to hire them officially based on the labor laws in Iran.
The workers initially gathered outside the factory for the first four days of the Iranian New Year that began on March 21, however on Wednesday they held their gathering outside the employment office in the city of Tabriz.
The workers at the plant also protested against discriminatory wages last year.
