The strike by contract (third-party) workers at Razi Petrochemical, which began on Saturday, August 8, entered a new phase of pressure and repression with the serious involvement of the company’s security department and the prosecutor’s office of Ma’shour (Mahshahr).
According to the Free Union of Iranian Workers, on the evening of Tuesday, August 11, the fourth day of the strike, the company’s security office, in coordination with the Mahshahr prosecutor’s office, summoned 75 striking day-shift workers to its office. After four hours of interrogation, threats, and intimidation, the workers were forced to sign a commitment to return to work. That same day, night-shift workers were prevented from entering the workplace and were effectively dismissed from the company.
The striking workers say their protest is against wage and benefits discrimination and the lower salaries they receive compared to other petrochemical units in the Mahshahr Special Economic Zone. This is despite an agreement signed about three years ago between company representatives and the workers, stipulating that any benefits approved in the Special Economic Zone would be extended to Razi Petrochemical workers within three months at most.
However, company officials claim that the unit is privately owned and therefore not subject to the regulations of the Special Economic Zone. Workers consider this a blatant violation of previous agreements and a disregard for their legal rights.
Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) has also reported that the Mahshahr Labor Department claims to be unaware of the workers’ grievances and has taken no effective action. Moreover, resolutions by the Provincial Security Council to improve wages for Razi Petrochemical workers have yet to be implemented.
According to these resolutions, the benefits paid to workers in other petrochemical companies in Mahshahr should also be given to the third-party workers at Razi Petrochemical, but the employer has refused to comply.
Currently, the number of contract (third-party) workers at Razi Petrochemical is around 1,500, and they insist that security pressures, dismissals, and denial of entry to the company will not prevent them from continuing to pursue their demands.
