Alarming reports have emerged, revealing troubling provisions within Article 15 of the bill, whereby employers are granted the authority to remunerate newly employed individuals with wages amounting to a mere fifty percent of the minimum wage sanctioned by the Supreme Labor Council during the initial three years of employment.
Project workers in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industry face a unique set of challenges when it comes to organizing and mobilizing for better working conditions. These temporary contract workers, often lack the stability and support of permanent employees, making them vulnerable to financial and political pressure. Workers experience different forms of organization that are often innovative and may even have the chance to be tried once. However, project workers have developed innovative ways to withstand these challenges.
Why, after more than two months of protests, have nationwide strikes not yet occurred in Iran, and how do the demands of the current uprising for “women, life, freedom” align with those of the working class? To address these questions, we spoke with Parvin Mohammadi, the vice-chairman of the Independent Iranian Workers’ Union. With years of experience in the labor movement and a history of interrogations, arrests, and trials due to her activism, Mohammadi believes that “national labor strikes will happen, but on a different schedule, when this movement becomes wider and involves crowds of thousands in cities.”
Teachers’ and workers’ organizations in Iran planned large demonstrations for May. The security police crushed the demonstrations with all their might. On the night of May 1, many teachers were under house arrest in their homes, and dozens were arrested.