Iran: More than 800 workers blocked a major highway in protest

NCRI – More than 800 workers employed by the Pars Paper mill factory gathered outside the governor's office in the southwestern city of Ahwaz. When the officials paid no attention to their demands for overdue salaries in the past three months, they blocked the Ahwaz-Andimeshk highway which is the jugular vein of Iran's oil rich province in the south.

At the same time 300 other of their fellow workers blocked another road which the supplies for two other big factories in the region, Haft-Tapeh Sugar Cane factory and Harir Paper factory passed through it.

It has been months since the workers in the southern Khuzestan region are on strike over pay disputes with mostly government appointed managements. Thousands of workers in Haft-Tapeh, Pars, Ahwaz Rolling and Pipes and many more have been on strike.

Workers as the most vulnerable part of the Iranian labor force have faced great difficulties receiving their salaries. Managements in most of the factories which were owned previously by the government have been turned over to the relatives and friends of the ruling mullahs with a fraction of their actual values. The managers with no real experience in running industrial units and keen in pocketing what revenues the factories may have, are turning the screws on the workers not paying the salaries for months and cutting their benefits in particular health insurance.