Iranian Steel Workers Stage Protest Against Unjust Practices
Pursuing their demands for better work condition, employees of Iran's National Steel Industrial Group rallied and initiated a strike on Saturday in Ahvaz.
Pursuing their demands for better work condition, employees of Iran's National Steel Industrial Group rallied and initiated a strike on Saturday in Ahvaz.
The protest stems from dissatisfaction with the recent termination of positions for 21 workers and the failure to implement job classification plans.
Following the strike, workers vacated the company premises and gathered along the Ahvaz-Khorramshahr road. The protest represents the latest in a series of actions by the Iran National Steel Industrial Group employees. Over the past months, they have intermittently halted work to voice their concerns.
Video is blurred to protect workers' identities
The most recent demonstration occurred on December 20, as workers voiced their opposition to low wages, the non-implementation of job classifications, and management's disregard for their demands. Slogans such as "A worker dies but does not accept humiliation" echoed through the protest.
In a November protest , workers abstained from work for three consecutive days, emphasizing their demands for wage parity and the reinstatement of expelled colleagues.
On September 27, the Islamic Republic's judiciary sentenced 17 protesting workers from the group to imprisonment and fines. They were accused of "disrupting public order through creating disturbance and commotion" during the Iranian people's uprising following the death of Mahsa Amini in custody in 2022.
The Iran National Steel Industrial Group, previously overseen by the Amir Mansour Aria Investment Company, underwent private ownership after legal proceedings and the execution of Aria for embezzlement.
Recent months have witnessed workers from various industries, members of different guilds, and retirees organizing numerous protests to address economic conditions. Several of the gatherings have been met with crackdown by security forces, coupled with legal obstacles for protesters.
Iranian media reported in November that the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution (SCCR) had renamed certain events on the official calendar including the pre-Islamic winter Festival of Yalda, which millions of Iranians celebrate on the night of December 21 when winter begins.
The council which is tasked with neutralizing non-Islamic cultural influences and ideologies, among other things, had decided that the day of the Winter Solstice be referred to as "Day of Promoting the Culture of Hosting and Connecting with Relatives” in the calendar.
Family of Mahsa (Jina) Amini, remembering their daughter on the longest night of the year.
Many believed that this irrelevant name was an onslaught on the deep-rooted culture and customs of Iranians.
Iran's religious establishment and hardliners often refer to ancient festivals as "pagan" calendar events and sometimes even demand that they should be banned. But despite endless religious propaganda, ancient traditions appear to have gained more popularity since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In defiance of the regime, social media users vowed to celebrate their beloved festivals such as Yalda, which they celebrate with family and friends, with even more splendor and merry-making this year, and shared numerous jokes about the lengthy new names assigned to their cherished festivals.
Municipality billboard in Tehran Honoring Yalda
The public's reaction to the renaming of the ancient festivals was so strong that the Council's spokesman, Abbas Mirza Hosseini, had to deny the removal of the names of ancient festivals from the official calendar. He claimed that the new names were only complementary and emphasized the "national identity and Islamic-Iranian culture and civilization."
In the past few days, presumably in response to such criticism, IRIB, which has a monopoly on broadcasting in the country, has shown unprecedented interest in the celebration of Yalda. It has also aired some Yalda entertainment programs including one with stand-up comedian Hassan Reyvandi who had been persona non grata at IRIB for some time.
The municipality of Tehran and some other cities also displayed an unprecedented interest in honoring Yalda. A massive billboard in Tehran’s Vali Asr Square congratulated citizens for Yalda and municipality trucks decorated with balloons and mascots played music on the streets.
The family of a victim of last year’s protests, Erfan Khazaei, celebrated Yalda at his grave.
The celebration of Yalda on the night of Winter Solstice and the Iranian New Year (Nowrouz) on the day of Spring Equinox both date to ancient, pre-Islamic times. The non-Islamic Nowrouz is still the main calendar event for most Iranians. The strength of the Nowrouz tradition is such that even the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei makes a televised speech on that day.
Iranians send each other millions of text messages to congratulate Yalda just as they do on Nowruz, and increasingly more in recent years, Christmas and western New Year.
“I do not understand the resistance that some [in the religious and political establishment] show against elements that build culture and a sense of national identity,” former government spokesman, reformist politician and sociologist Ali Rabiei wrote in a commentary in Etemad newspaper Thursday entitled “The Indelible Yalda”.
Rabiei opined that introducing a new name for the festival in the calendar was an attempt to obscure the festival’s ancient roots through “historical transformation”. He also urged the regime to stop “engineering cultural calendar events”.
“The pressure of the people and public opinion has forced the Islamic regime to retreat repeatedly in the past 44 years in trying to ban music, short-sleeved clothes, video players, satellite TV, Yalda night, even Nowruz … Don't underestimate your power,” a tweet said.
