OIL, gas and petrochemical contracted project workers have been on strike at different sites since Friday April 21. On Saturday the strike campaign continued and spread further.

On the first day, hundreds of contracted workers working in Abadan oil refinery and several petrochemical complexes went on strike protesting over their living conditions and called for an increase in their wages. Meanwhile, temporary and contracted project workers in other industries such as Yazd Alloy Steel also went on strike.      

On the second day, the scope of the campaign expanded further and contracted workers in some other complexes such as south Pars — Assalouyeh, Dehloran Petrochemical, Gachsaran Petrochemical, Lordegan and Kangan Petrochemical complexes joined the strike calling for increased wages. The main demands are increased wages and job security.      

The scope of the working-class protests against the official minimum wage ratified by the High Council on Labour for the current year is not limited just to oil workers. Workers across the country oppose the meagre wage rates and suppression of wage and union rights. They are specifically demanding that the wage increase be based on the real inflation rate and their living expenses.      

The so-called “privatisation productisation” scheme has seriously undermined the living conditions and the job security of the working class. The rise in inflation and living costs has drastically cut working families’ buying power.

Contracted workers are deprived of their most basic rights — the call for wage increases and other immediate demands are not separate from the conscious opposition of the workers’ movement to the Islamic Republic’s policies, including turning the page of the countries affairs to those prior to the “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising.      

The campaign to broaden the workers’ protests and formation of the strike movement at this time is of utmost importance. Workers’ struggle, while centred mainly on economic demands, is happening in the context of the popular movement and the overall situation in the country and thus it is a conscious political movement against the ruling dictatorship.

It is paramount we wholeheartedly support the workers’ struggle for their immediate demands — we must combine the demand for wage increases with the heroic struggle of women against the mandatory hijab law.      

The workers’ struggle and brave resistance of our women against the mandatory hijab and the regime’s suppression are all clear indications of the continuation of the popular movement against the ruling dictatorship.

The Tudeh Party of Iran supports the working class with all its capacity, including the contracted oil workers. In the current stage, calls for demands grounded in realism and in line with the strength of the workers’ movement that could concurrently strengthen the workers’ movement’s power and broaden the strike campaign are vital and important.      

Guaranteeing job security, wage increases, suspension of privatisation and abolition of temporary contracting are among the immediate and just demands of working people. Through all-embracing united action, let us fight united and in unison for the realisation of these demands.      

We send an enthusiastic salute to the workers of our country. Let us, through general unity and intensification of the struggle, fight the ruling dictatorship.

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