TEHRAN, Nov 18, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Workers at Iran’s oldest sugar cane
company went on strike on Saturday over unpaid wages, calling for the
troubled factory to be nationalised, the semi-official news agency ILNA
reported.
ILNA published a photo of a rally by workers from the Haft Tapeh company
in Shush, southwestern Iran, showing women marching with their children —
one holding a sign saying: “We are hungry.”
Haft Tapeh employs about 4,000 workers and was first established in 1962.
Workers have staged numerous rallies over delayed wages and unpaid
pensions since the company’s privatisation in February 2016, with protests
increasing in recent weeks.
“We call on this hard-working class to get back to work before the
products go to waste,” said Yadollah Mehrali-Zadeh, deputy governor for
Khuzestan province where the company is based.
“The government is trying to pay two to three months of their delayed
payments in the upcoming week,” he added, according to the official IRNA news
agency.
Iran has seen multiple strikes and protests over working conditions and
unpaid wages in a number of sectors in recent months, including steel,
education, mining and transport.