Solidarity organisation backs oil workers in Iran
Reports from Iran confirm that currently more than 25,000 project workers, at the oil and gas fields and terminals in southern Iran, are continuing their industrial action which began on 21 June.
Leading UK solidarity organisation, the Committee for the Defence of Iranian People’s Rights (CODIR), has been a consistent supporter of the oil workers and their campaign, and has worked with their counterparts in the trade unions in Britain and internationally to raise awareness and solidarity. IndustriALL Global Union has supported this campaign and, likewise, has asked all of its members and affiliates to do the same.
News of the action first came in Syndicate Messenger, a trade union newsletter, published by the Union of Metalworkers and Mechanics of Iran (UMMI), which reported on Thursday 20 June 2024 that outsourced project workers in the country’s refineries, oil and gas installations and power plants had walked out in protest at their wages and conditions of service.
Their main demands are for a major change in working conditions and shift patterns, as well as an end to the use of human resources companies, essentially labour brokerages, that disrupt and act as a buffer in the relationship between the workers and the actual employers.
The stated goals of the campaign are to implement a 14 days on,14 days off rotation for oil and gas workers, to de-casualise workers contracts and to increase wages in line with union demands.
Currently, outsourced project workers in Iran’s petrochemical sector work in extreme heat and other difficult, often unsanitary, conditions with a pattern of 20 days work followed by 10 days rest. Those fortunate enough to be directly employed by the government or regulated companies in the sector operate on the 14 days on, 14 days off pattern.
CODIR General Secretary, Gawain Little, expressed support and solidarity for the Iranian workers and urged British trade unions to do the same.
“These are workers engaged in extremely difficult, labour intensive jobs in often extreme conditions,” he said. “The demands of our colleagues in the UMMI should be backed by trade union colleagues across the UK as just and reasonable. Harmonising terms and conditions, bringing contract labour into the mainstream workforce and ending zero hours contracts, is something we would support in the UK and it should be no different for colleagues in Iran.”
Speaking on behalf of the UMMI, Maziyar Gilaninejad, a representative of the project workers made clear the significance of the strike for the wider Iranian economy.
“The oil and gas industry is a vital sector of the Iranian economy, and a prolonged strike could have a major impact on the country’s economy,” said Mr. Gilaninejad. “The strike is also a sign of the growing discontent among Iranian workers, who are struggling to make ends meet in the face of rising inflation and economic hardship. The Iranian government will need to find a way to address the workers’ demands in order to avoid a wider economic crisis.”
CODIR has called for ongoing support from British workers for their colleagues in Iran and requests that trade union affiliates write to the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran to make clear their backing for the demands of the Iranian oil and gas workers currently in dispute.
Further Contact Information for CODIR:-
Website: www.codir.net
E-mail: codir_info@btinternet.com
CODIR is the Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights.
It has been established since 1981 and has consistently campaigned to expose human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
CODIR has worked closely with the trade union movement in the UK, the peace movement, all major political parties and Amnesty International to press the case for an end to torture in Iran’s prisons. Major trade unions in Britain are affiliated to CODIR and support its campaign for peace, human and democratic rights, and social justice in Iran.
CODIR has published Iran Today, its quarterly journal, since 1981, explaining the latest developments in Iran and the most effective way that the British public opinion could demonstrate its solidarity with the people of Iran.
In recent years CODIR has worked closely with Stop the War Coalition and has been vocal against any form of foreign intervention in the internal affairs of the nation.
