Strike by Tabriz Blacksmith Workers

workers at the Blacksmith Company which is a subsection of the Tabriz Tractor industrial complex went on strike following an impasse reached at the talks with the company’s general manager. The Blacksmith Company is a private subcontractor firm. The workers were asking for the following demands: carrying through of the profit-sharing scheme agreed previously, increase in the duration of the contracts, and permanent employment of the workers with four years of seniority among others.

According to the Tabriz head of the Islamic Workers Council, following a meeting with the Tabriz provincial authorities, head of the Islamic Workers Council, Tabriz province Workers commissioner, political and security officials at the state, the management of the company, and ten representatives from workers, some of the workers’ demands were met.

Changiz Ghasemi, the head of the Islamic Workers Council in Tabriz, told Mehr News Agency that in the five-hour-long meeting, the formation of an Islamic Workers Council, minimum contract duration of six months, and a review of the job classifications were agreed upon.

The strike, however, has been going strong after ten days. One of the workers has put the workers demands as the following:

Prompt payment of the insurance premiums;
Inclusion of hazardous and difficult working conditions as part of the retirement;
Increase in the terms of the contracts;
Payment of the past profit sharing dues;
Full payment of the wages at the end of each month

The black smith company has been privatized out of the Tabriz Tractor complex. The workers are demanding to be again back as part of the complex.

The workers protests and strikes had started from a month ago.

Source: Iran Labor Report