Workers’ Protest in Isfahan
The industrial city of Isfahan in central Iran has been the scene of several protest actions by workers demanding back-wages.
On February 27, eighty Matak workers, a company in Lanjan Metal Industial City involved in metal parts design, staged a protest in front of the company offices in Tohid at a major intersection in the city of Isfahan. About 200 workers have not received wages for seven months now. Workers have staged several protests including strikes and meetings with officials from Matak as well as mangers from the parent company Ghaem Reza Industrial Complex.
Workers entered the board of directors meeting and engaged in shouting matches with the board, which was soon accompanied by the presence of police, by the request of the board. Following the workers resilience, the board met with the workers’ representative in a separate meeting and the workers were promised to be paid 300 US dollars and receive two months of their back wages in addition to the March new year bonuses scheduled for mid March.
Inspired by Matak workers, on March 1, 70 Milad workers, another of the Ghaem Reza Industrial Complex companies, staged a protest in the same location and asked to meet with management. Four police officers and a number of associates in plain cloths were also at the offices.
According to the reports by the Ad Hoc Council of Isfahan Iron Workers, the Milad workers tried to meet with the general manager and several other board members who were not at their offices. One board member, Abca, whose management style has been the cause of numerous complaints, was confronted by protesters chanting “thief, thief has arrived.”
When the meetings failed to take place, workers headed to the streets explaining their grievances to the surrounding public despite calls by the police to limit their outcry to private meetings with company officials. Eventually, the workers were promised 100 thousand US dollars in payment to Milad workers, the remaining balance will be settled after factory machinery is sold.
Milad is in bankruptcy. The company has fired 120 contract workers and is trying to push another 80 full-time workers into early retirement. However, permanent workers have stated unequivocally that they will not retire before their paid for the last seven months of work.
