Focus: An unprecedented challenging situation!

Abstract

In the last nine months - and especially after the massive popular protests at the turn of 2017-2018 - a struggle has arisen across Iran’s industry and workforce, one which has gained fierce impetus and which shows no sign of abating any time soon. In addition to their urgent demands for unpaid wages and salaries, working people have also targeted the policies of regime which have brought about the widespread privatisation and plunder of national resources; attempts to remove requirements for occupational safety and the right to form independent union organisations; continual efforts to raid the social security fund and the retirement schemes paid for by workers; and government schemes for the deregulation of labour markets and labour relations. The growth and spread of the workers’ protest movement has been one of the important features of the country's political scene in recent months. The implementation of anti-popular policies such as privatisation and economic liberalisation has imposed very tough conditions for the working class, who can no longer bear this situation. The strike of the workers at Hepco, the Haftappeh sugar cane complex workers and that of the truck drivers, as well as the onslaught by law enforcement and security forces on the workers of the Ahvaz National Steel Industrial Group - along with and dozens of other protests and strikes - reflect the growing grievances of Iran’s working people. In addition to the strikes and meetings in workshops and factories throughout the country, some significant protests took place at some of the most important industrial-manufacturing plants which employ a considerable number of industrial and technical workers. These include Hepco, Polyacryl, various parts of the national railways, parts of the operational phases of the South Pars gas field, Tabriz Machine Tools Manufacturing Company, Kerman copper mining and the refineries in Elam and Kermanshah. The atmosphere in these key manufacturing plants is filled with discontent, tension and volatility. The growing number of protests by teachers, who form an integral part of the trade union movement in Iran, must also be mentioned. These have been violently crushed by the regime’s security forces in recent weeks. Their main demands include job security, fair wages, abolition of temporary contracts, payment of unpaid and late wages and opposition to privatisation. Prospect of US economic sanctions These protest movements are taking place in the wake of the political developments and challenges affecting Iran which arise from the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) nuclear agreement. This is resulting in a realignment of the regime’s political forces and factions and is therefore deemed to be very important. Poverty, unemployment and lack of job security are the main factors behind these protests. Continuous devaluation of the currency coupled with inflation has brought more poverty to an already struggling working class. Over the past 3 months Iranian currency has lost half its exchange value. Workers complain that their wages are in rials (Iranian currency) while their expenditures are in US dollars. According to official statistics, the accommodation price index in Tehran has increased some 33 percent in the last 12 months prior to last winter. Over the same period, the housing rental index has increased by 26.6 percent. Furthermore, prices of goods and services have increased by 35 percent resulting in an ever higher cost of living and more hardship. Even Faramarz Toufighi, the workers’ representative on the official ‘Supreme Labour Council’ acknowledges that the situation is catastrophic: It is anticipated that by the first of August the inflation for items in the basket of living consumer goods will be dazzling. A leap of 40 percent in poultry prices, a 30 percent jump in meat prices, a 18 percent jump in rice and oil prices, and a 28 percent jump in housing and … indicates that government agencies have given up all attempts to control the spiralling inflation. He predicts that: 83 percent of workers live under the existence threshold. Given the recent policies of the US administration in attempting to torpedo the 5+1 nuclear deal with Iran and renewed threats of economic sanctions - and even military intervention - the economy has been seriously affected. The flight of capital in recent months...