Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, August 27, 2019–A group of retired education workers held a demonstration in Tehran, the capital of Iran, for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, protesting discrimination, low pensions and authorities imprisoning teachers. This rally was held outside the office of Iranian regime President Hassan Rouhani.
The protesting retirees were holding signs reading:
– We demand useful and comprehensive insurance plans.
– Our pensions don’t even cover the water and electricity bills.
– Housing, residency, adequate insurance plans, health insurance and medical care are our undeniable rights. Until when are we expected to wait?
Hundreds of teachers and retired education workers in Tehran also held a protest rally at 8 am Monday morning outside the regime’s Labor Ministry. The demonstrators held signs stating their demands that have been neglected by authorities. They also held banners reading:
-Release jailed teachers
-Teachers don’t belong in prison
-Let go of Syria, think about us
-We demand the right to establish an independent organization and be recognized as one; the right to assembly, go on strike, and freedom of speech despite any security circumstances. We also need to establish an organization for all the retirees in order for them to know their true representatives.
Members of the Tehran Electricity Workers Union protesting and demanding their purchased homes be delivered by company officials
Members of the Tehran Electricity Workers Union held a rally on Tuesday protesting being left in limbo for years after purchasing their homes in the city of Hashtgerd. This rally was held outside the regime’s Ministry of Labor, Unions and Social Welfare in Tehran.
Hepco Company workers holding a protest rally
Workers of the Hepco Company blocked the North-South rail tracks, protesting the company’s circumstances that has left their lives in limbo. It is worth noting that these workers have continued their protests for the past few days.
On Saturday, a group of workers from HEPCO construction equipment manufacturer gathered in front of the company’s headquarters in the city of Arak, western Iran, protesting unpaid wages, their contract conditions and insurance problems.
The workers are saying, “Due to the decline of production in 2019 and the inefficiency of the management chosen by the Privatization Organization, we are worried about our job security.”
According to the workers, they have only received their wages for the first two months of the new Iranian calendar year, which started in March.
The workers resumed their protests on Sunday in front of the local offices of the regime’s parliament in Arak.
HEPCO, founded in 1974, was once the biggest manufacturer of heavy construction equipment in Iran and the Middle East, and produced 3,000 pieces of equipment per year. But since the mullahs seized power in Iran, the company has been constantly declining. HEPCO was eventually sold to private owners with ties to the regime, which further pushed it toward its collapse.
HEPCO’s workers are one of many labor communities who are protesting to delays in payments and poor work conditions. The regime’s response to labor protests has so far been hollow promises, crackdown and repression, and heavy prison sentences for protest organizers.
Read more:
Teachers have a history of holding many protests and even nationwide strikes.
In the final week of December 2018, the teachers of Isfahan held demonstrations in front of the offices of the education ministry in protest to their deteriorating working conditions.
In the second day of the demonstrations, Iranian security forces attacked the teachers with batons and pepper spray to disperse them and to prevent the protests from continuing. The teachers were demanding the release of their imprisoned colleagues and improvements to their working conditions, including an increase in wages.
Like many other segments of the country’s population, Iran’s teachers are faced with increasingly difficult economic conditions which stem from the corrupt policies adopted by the ruling regime. After four decades of unfulfilled promises by Iranian officials, the teachers see demonstrations and strikes as the only way they can achieve their goals. As a result, the regime’s repressive measures are becoming increasingly ineffective in forcing the teachers to back down from their most basic demands.
The protests took place despite widespread efforts by the Iranian regime’s security forces to cause fear and panic among the teachers and dissuade them from holding their demonstrations. Security officials had declared that they would arrest and prosecute anyone who took part in the protests. Security forces lined up in front of the education ministry offices, where the teachers had appointed for their rally.
But the teachers showed up nonetheless. And while security forces brutally cracked down on their gathering, the teachers continued to hold their lines and shout their slogans.
According to reports, during the protests, security forces arrested 40-50 teachers and took them to an unknown location.
In the past months, teachers have gone on strike on two occasions in protest to their conditions. While the latest demonstrations are in Isfahan, similar protests have taken place in numerous other cities including Sari, Kermanshah, Gharveh, Divan Dareh, Shiraz, Mamasani, Kazerun, Marivan, Tabriz and Khoramabad.
Some of these nationwide protests include the following:
- In May, Iranian teachers held strikes in 34 cities
- In October, a second round of strikes by Iranian teachers, which lasted for two days, expanded to 103 cities
- In November, the teachers held another strike, with participants in all Iranian provinces
- In December, teachers and students in Hamedan and Kermanshah held demonstrations
- Shortly after, teachers in Isfahan and Yazd held protests. A few days later, teachers in Tabriz held demonstrations in spite of the freezing cold.
As the trend shows, protests by Iranian teachers are becoming more frequent, organized and expansive. When viewed in the context of other ongoing protests across Iran, the courage and determination of Iranian teachers are fueling and assisting other communities that are protesting for their most basic rights, such as workers, truck drivers, and merchants.
Overall, as the nationwide uprisings that began last year continue, the people of Iran are developing a spirit of solidarity, and with the help of organized resistance units, they’re inching toward achieving their ultimate demand which is to topple the dictatorship ruling their country and replace it with a democratic state.
