Employees and retirees in the southwestern Iranian city of Shush have gone on strike to protest living standards and to push the government to approve wage and social payment increases in the Iranian New Year.
Videos published on social media showed crowds gathering in front of the local governor’s office while chanting, “Enough oppression! Our tablecloth is empty.”
The strike comes after several weeks of protests, dubbed Protest Sundays, in front of government agencies in Shush.
On March 26, a rally took place in front of the Shush governor’s building, where workers and retirees from the Haft Tapeh sugarcane company joined others to protest.
The Supreme Labor Council has resolved to raise the minimum wage for workers in the Iranian New Year, which commenced on March 21, by only 27 percent compared with the previous year. Annual inflation in Iran has been running at around 40 percent for the past two years.
During a gathering of workers over the weekend, labor activists highlighted the ongoing rise in the inflation rate and the increasing costs of food and other expenses. They argued that the wages set by the Supreme Labor Council are “oppressive” and called for a salary increase that corresponds with price growth and living expenses to better support working families.
Prices have grown as living standards have fallen in Iran due to crushing sanctions imposed on the country by the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Unrest has rattled Iran since last summer in response to declining living standards, wage arrears, and a lack of welfare support. Labor law in Iran does not recognize the right of workers to form independent unions.
Adding to the dissent, the death in September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody for allegedly wearing a head scarf improperly breathed new life into demonstrations, which officials across the country have tried to quell with harsh measures.
The activist HRANA news agency said that more than 500 people have been killed during the unrest, including 71 minors, as security forces try to stifle widespread dissent.
Thousands have been arrested in the clampdown, with the judiciary handing down harsh sentences — including the death penalty — to protesters.
Source » rferl