NCRI – Iran’s fundamentalist regime has reluctantly ordered a major state-affiliated company to pay workers the back pay that is owed to them this month in order to prevent possible protests by workers in the days leading to the elections for the regime’s Assembly of Experts and Majlis (or Parliament), a confidential directive shows.
A repressive governmental body in the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) has advised company officials to pay all the workers’ unpaid wages prior to the February 26 elections, according to the text of the directive.
The directive dated January 20, 2016 was issued by the Herasat Office, a repressive body that has branches in every Iranian government institution and that spies and reports on government employees. The memo warned the managers of all refineries, operation managers and directors of human resources departments within the NIGC to pay the workers’ salaries to “prevent any possible gatherings or sit-ins and their related negative consequences”.
The directive indicates that any unpaid wages must be paid no later than February 24, 2016, two days prior to the regime’s sham elections.
Months-long delays in payment of salaries particularly to workers and government employees has become routine in Iran. In many instances, this has led to protests in cities across the country.
Iranian workers suffer from poverty, hunger and unemployment while Iran’s great wealth is spent on domestic suppression, antinationalistic polices of export of terrorism and warmongering in the region, and weapons of mass destruction projects or is plundered by the regime’s officials.
The directive by the Herasat Office reveals the extent of fear by the Iranian regime of public protests in the run-up to the regime’s so-called elections.
“Confrontation and internal power struggle within the Iranian regime on the verge of the parliament and the Assembly of Experts elections has escalated in an unprecedented manner,” the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said in a statement. “This comes on the heels of innumerable domestic and external crises engulfing the regime of velayat-e faqih following its adoption of the nuclear accord and its consecutive defeats in Syria.”
The directive is entitled: “Issue: Paying workers’ wages in the final days of the year”.
Its text reads:
“With greeting and respect, you are hereby informed that given that the end of the [Persian calendar] year is approaching and taking note of the instructions handed down by the minister and competent authorities regarding timely payment of workers’ wages and back pay, you must instruct that all wages, bonuses, back pay and overtime pay be paid no later than February 24, 2016 in order to prevent any possible gatherings or sit-ins and their related negative consequences.
“You are reminded that given the upcoming elections of the Assembly of Experts and Islamic Assembly (Parliament), this issue must be treated with especial importance and sensitivity in order to prevent any misuse of this matter for publicity in particular in the realm of workers’ protests.”
The text has been signed by Ahmad Samali, a senior official of the Herasat Office at the National Iranian Gas Company.
