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.