Report by PMOI/MEK
Iran, July 31, 2018 – After not having received their wages for months and having received no answer from the Iranian regime’s authorities, the workers of Tabriz’s railroad gathered in the railroad station on Monday and started a demonstration and a strike. Tabriz’s railroad workers have joined workers in other cities of Azerbaijan province, including Qazvin and Zanjan, who have been on strike in the past days.
The strikes are not limited to the railroad of Azerbaijan and is also ongoing in other parts of Iran. In the past six days, railroad workers in Lorestan, Neyshabur, Damqan and Khoramshahr have also been on strike.
Demonstration by Tabriz railroad workers, July 30, 2018
Some of Iran’s cities where railroad workers have been protesting include the following:
- In Zanjan, railroad workers went on strike since last week
- In Neyshabur, the workers blocked the railway on July 28
- In Sharafkhaneh, Azerbaijan, railroad workers have been on strike since last week
- In Zaheda, Baluchistan, railroad workers staged a protest on July 26
- Railroad workers in Eslamshahr, Karaj, Lorestan, Azerbaijan and Zagros staged demonstrations at the same time
- Workers went on strike and closed down the railroad of Doroud on July 25
- The workers of the northeast railway (Semnan, Shahrud, Damqan) went on strike on July 25
- Railroad workers in Tabriz, Sufian, Ajab Shir, Marand, Salmas and Shafakhaneh went on strike on July 25
- In Andimeshk, railroad workers went on strike on July 24
- In Eslamshahr, railroad workers went on strike on July 23
Tabriz railroad workers strike
In Tabriz, the protesting workers, who have been dealing with unpaid wages, increasing difficulties at work and no response to their requests, spent the night at the railroad company’s building. They have also refrained from going to work on the next day.
In Sharafkhaneh, Western Azerbaijan, the workers refrained from going to work at a new construction site.
In comments to a local news outlet, one of the workers said, “Today, Monday, is the sixth day of the widespread strike of the railroad company of Azerbaijan. In dialog with the workers, the railroad authorities promised to pay pending wages by July 27, but to date, there’s been no payment.”
The worker added, “Yesterday, the workers of Sharafkhaneh refrained from going to work at a new construction site in protest to their unpaid wages.”
In parallel to protests and strikes in Azerbaijan, railroad workers in other parts of Iran are also staging protests.
