The workers are calling for “a 79 percent increase in wages” as well as “an end to discrimination” and “freedom of association”.
Iranian authorities have arrested eight people for “leading” a strike by workers at a major gas production site in the south of the country, according to local media on Sunday.
“The intelligence services have arrested eight main leaders of the workers’ strike in South Pars,” the deputy governor of the region, Akbar Porat, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.
About 40,000 people work in the huge South Pars field, which has the largest known gas reserves in the world, and which Iran shares with Qatar.
“Eight companies and subcontractors in the region have been blacklisted for instigating the strike,” Porat added.
Earlier this month, Iranian local media reported that the Iranian authorities had suspended company officials for supporting the strikes.
At the end of last April, the authorities announced that they had started replacing 4,000 workers who were on strike to demand better salaries and living conditions.
However, the “ILNA” news agency, which is close to labor circles, reported that the protesters “continued to present their union demands.”
The workers are calling for “a 79 percent increase in wages” as well as “an end to discrimination” and “freedom of association”.
In 2022, Iran witnessed several waves of strikes among teachers and bus drivers to protest low salaries and the high cost of living.
On Saturday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei considered that some workers’ protests are beneficial to the country because they help the government and institutions understand workers’ demands.
Since 2018, the Iranian economy has been affected by the sanctions of the United States, which unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear agreement with the major powers, as well as the acceleration of inflation and the record depreciation of the rial.
