Iran oil and gas strike swells to 24,000 workers

Amid soaring inflation and worsening economic conditions in Iran, the ongoing oil and gas workers' strike has expanded to 24,000 workers as it entered its 23rd day on Friday.

Commencing on June 19 under the initiative of the unofficial Council for Organizing Oil Contract-Workers' Protests, the strike has united workers from “123 companies” in the oil and gas sector.

The workers, who are calling for significant changes including eliminating intermediary contractors, wage increases, and improved working conditions, have warned that the strikes will escalate if their demands are not met.

Also, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on Saturday that workers at the Iranian Offshore Oil Company employees on Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf staged a workplace protest, voicing their discontent over the unaddressed demands.

Additional concerns of the contract workers in the oil and gas industry include substandard dormitory conditions, inadequate working conditions, and insufficient workplace safety measures, all of which have yet to be sufficiently addressed.

Adding to the tensions, protesting workers have been receiving threatening text messages from supporters of the contractors, which many see as an attempt to suppress the growing dissent, according to Alireza Mirghaffari, a member of the Supreme Council of Labor Associations.

In recent years, Iran's oil and gas sector has increasingly replaced regular employees with contract workers who endure harsh conditions and low pay.

In February, assurances were given that the Job Classification Act (JCA) would be implemented, with workers receiving their salaries accordingly by May. However, this promise still needs to be fulfilled. The absence of job classifications results in workers being trapped in precarious temporary positions for years, with inconsistent pay rates for the same work.

The JCA covers only some of Iran's wage earners, leaving their jobs unclassified, which has become the norm.

Initially, the strike involved 8,000 oil contract workers from over 60 contracting companies. With the number of strikers now reaching 23,000, the protest is rapidly gaining momentum.

These protests are part of a broader wave of labor unrest in Iran, driven by delayed wages, low pay, and layoffs that have intermittently disrupted various industrial sectors since 2018.

Over the past decade, many components of the oil and gas industry have been outsourced to influential regime insiders as intermediary contractors. These contractors underpay workers and subject them to harsh working conditions. Traditionally, oil workers in Iran enjoyed the highest salaries and best benefits.