On Monday, July 1, retirees from the telecommunications sector staged protests in the cities of Tabriz and Bijar, objecting to the failure of major shareholders and managers from the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO) and the Mobin Trust Consortium to adhere to bylaw 89/24 and fulfill other outstanding claims.
Economic protests in Iran persisted on Monday with telecommunications retirees gathering in several cities, steelworkers from Ahvaz demonstrating outside the regime’s parliament, and strikes by employees of Petro Kimia Arvin and Kaveh Sodium Carbonate Company.
Reports from social media indicate that groups of retirees from the telecommunications company protested in several cities across East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Mazandaran, and Kurdistan provinces. They expressed their dissatisfaction with the state’s neglect of their demands for better living and welfare conditions.
Weekly protests by telecommunications retirees have been ongoing since last year, occurring every Monday. The reasons for their protests include the lack of updates to welfare benefits in 2022 and 2023, management’s disregard for bylaw 89, issues with supplementary insurance, and the failure to pay past claims at current rates.
#Iran News:
Nationwide Protests and Strikes Highlight Deepening Discontent in Iranhttps://t.co/5R5N5B7hz7— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 26, 2024
The regime’s law, enacted in 2010 under Article 24 of the Civil Service Law, outlines the responsibilities and procedures for outsourcing services to the private sector. It stipulates that until “obstacles to outsourcing” are removed, the government remains responsible for providing services to the workforce. However, 13 years after its passage, the persistent and continuous protests by these retirees indicate that neither have these obstacles been removed nor has the government fulfilled its duties towards the protesters.
In addition, a group of Ahvaz Steel Company workers gathered outside the Parliament in Tehran to protest the dismissal of workers who had demonstrated against poor living conditions and demanded wage increases. According to sources like the “Civil Protest Bazaar” Telegram channel, these workers were fired four months ago for their protests.
Another report from the “Civil Protest Bazaar” Telegram channel highlighted a renewed strike by workers at the Kaveh Sodium Carbonate Company in Firouzabad, Fars Province.
Furthermore, on Monday, July 1, workers from Petro Kimia Arvin joined widespread labor strikes within Iran’s oil and gas industries. The project-based strikes have been ongoing for 12 days, and according to another domestic source, over 20,000 workers from more than 115 oil and gas companies have joined the movement.
Salute to the project workers of the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries, who, on the eighth day of the nationwide strike involving over 20,000 workers across more than 90 oil and gas plants, echo the widespread anger and protest of the Iranian workforce.
As long as the…— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) June 26, 2024
A video from Sunday’s protest by social security and civil service retirees in Tehran showed demonstrators chanting: “Injustice and oppression here, doubly for women.”
The expanding scope of professional protests by various groups, including retirees, industrial workers, teachers, defrauded investors, nurses, and healthcare workers, highlights the growing economic hardships in Iran and the regime’s disregard for these issues.
Meanwhile, economic turbulence continues in Iran’s gold and currency markets. On Sunday, the price of the US dollar reached 62,000 tomans, and each Bahar Azadi gold coin soared to 43 million tomans.
These ongoing protests and economic instability depict a nation grappling with significant internal strife and widespread discontent, highlighting the state’s indifference and prioritization of its own malign agenda both domestically and internationally.
