{"id":8773,"date":"2018-12-13T17:26:01","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T16:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/?p=8773"},"modified":"2018-12-13T20:45:43","modified_gmt":"2018-12-13T19:45:43","slug":"ahvaz-maryam-rajavi-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2018\/12\/ahvaz-maryam-rajavi-iran\/8773\/","title":{"rendered":"Ahvaz became the vanguard of popular protests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Ahvaz, the most recent strikes held by the workers, have swept one of the mostsignificant<\/g> economic and industrial poles of Iran, the Khuzestan Province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Iran, there is not a day that goes by without witnessing several protests. People from different strata and classes such as teachers, the elderly pensioners, the truck drivers and etc. participate in these protests. Indeed, most of the Iranian people are not seeking improvement in their economic conditions, but are struggling to receive their wage arrears; in some cases, for a couple of years. The state-run Iran Labor News Agency (ILNA) reported that a group of Ahvaz metro workers protested on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2018, for 18 months of unpaid wages. Also, the people whose deposits have been plundered by the financial institutions affiliated to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)are protesting for two years, to retrieve their money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/2018\/11\/13\/truck-drivers-strike-maryam-rajavi-4\/\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The workers are looking for the restoration of Iran\u2019s industries as the national wealth. These industries have been dragged to the verge of bankruptcy because of mismanagement. Under the nepotistic mullahs\u2019 rule, and under the pretext of assigning these industries to the private sectors, they have been sold out to the mullahs\u2019 relatives.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the f the workers and government employees are overdue, making them unable to make their ends meet, there has not been even once that the astronomical salaries and benefits of the ministers, MPs, and other government executives have not been paid. All these happen in a country where the state-run media admit that the wages of thousands of Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Mill workers have not been paid for 105 days (ILNA News Agency, Oct. 31, 2018) or, the price of the MPs\u2019 cars in the parliament\u2019s parking lot exceeds one year of the oil revenue. (Syasat-e-Rooznewspaper, Dec. 1, 2018).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/2018\/11\/08\/hepco-workers-iran-human-right\/\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Workers of the Iran National Steel Industry Group (INSIG) in the city of Ahvaz, capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province have staged a new round of strikes and held powerfulprotests<\/g> since Nov. 10, 2018, almost simultaneously with their peers, HaftTappeh Sugar Cane Mill workers, at Shush city, in the same province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The steelworkers demand their overdue wages and the return of the INSIG to public ownership. Both the INSIG and Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Mill were so-called privatized in deceitful circumstances. The private owners who are linked to the corrupted ruler paid very small amounts to buy the government-owned factories, then they stopped paying the workers\u2019 wages on time. Due to the devastating policies of the mullahs\u2019 regime, and the plundering of the assets of the steel factory by the Revolutionary Guards\u2019 affiliated figures, production has fallen to 10%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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