French labor unions blame authorities' negligence for deadly Iran mine explosion

The French Trade Union Collective, a coalition of five major labor unions in France, issued a statement blaming the negligence of authorities for last month’s deadly coal mine explosion in Iran, which killed at least 52 workers.

"According to international labor conventions, the government and private employers are obligated to protect the safety and lives of workers in the workplace," the statement read.

"The deaths of these workers were entirely preventable," the unions added, blaming the disaster on negligence.

The explosion at the Tabas coal mine, which occurred on September 21, was caused by a methane gas leak deep within the mine, according to Iranian state television. Rescue efforts were severely hampered by the high levels of methane gas, with many miners trapped in Block B, where conditions were particularly hazardous.

In their statement, the unions emphasized that miners had alerted management to the presence of methane gas in the tunnels before the explosion, yet they were still forced to continue working.

The French trade unions underscored the severity of the issue by citing official statistics from 2023, which reported that 2,115 people were killed in workplace accidents in Iran, with an additional 27,000 injured.

"The frequency of these deadly mining accidents clearly shows that miners face a systemic problem and a lack of political will to address it," the statement read.

Ali Nesaee Zohan, public prosecutor and head of the South Khorasan Revolutionary Court, announced last week that the case investigator had confirmed a lack of safety measures at the mine, attributing the negligence to the mine's management.

Hassan Hashemi, a representative of Birjand in Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly, also criticized the managers of the Tabas Ma'danjoo mine for failing to implement an online monitoring system and a gas venting shaft, which he said directly contributed to the explosion.

Despite the findings, no official action has been taken to summon or question the owners of the private coal mining company Ma'danjoo.

The unions involved in the statement include the Confédération française démocratique du travail (CFDT), Confédération générale du travail (CGT), Fédération syndicale unitaire (FSU), Union syndicale Solidaires, and Union nationale des syndicats autonomes (UNSA).