Teachers Hold Two-Day Nation Wide Strike

on January 20 and 21, teachers across Iran held strikes in a spontaneous action demanding fair wages. According to the website of the Teachers Association of Iran, the strike which was not coordinated with the Association, took place in all the provinces in the country. In Tehran teachers from zones 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 17, 18, 19 as well as the cities of Robat Karim, Shahriar, Varamin, Pakdasht, Roudehen, Boumehen participated in the strike. Also, cities in Isfahan, Gilan, Shiraz, Hamedan, Lorestan, Khorasan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Khuzistan, Kurdistan, Azerbayjan, Yazd, Kerman and Semnan witnessed teachers holding strikes in schools. Certain teachers were confronted with harsh reaction and threats by principles especially in Robat Karim, Islam shahr, and Qods city.

The strike ranged from not attending classes to holding sit-ins and protesting by the offices of the Education Ministry in different cities.

In Qoreishiha high school in Karaj, teachers held a strike in protest to their wages. A group of teachers held a sit-in by Education offices in the city of Shahroud. In Qazvin, the teachers in a peaceful protest called the attention of the authorities to their demands. In Kermanshah, a number of teachers gathered by the Education Offices and pressed their demands. A similar gathering took place in Marivan. In Kamyaran, teachers came to the schools but refrained from attending the classes. On the second day of the strike, a number of schools not having joined on the first day, joined the strike on the second day.

The teachers are worried about the talks of a mere 14 percent increase in wages for the coming year. The Central Council of the Teachers Trade Associations across the country called for a face to face meeting with the president following the two day strikes to discuss the teachers grievances.

On December 29, a group of teachers in a letter to the president had called for action to address their grievance.
On January 13, a six thousand teachers petition letter was delivered to the head of the Iranian Parliament, emphasizing the sub poverty wages for the teachers and calling for non discriminatory payment of wages to all government employees including the teachers and decent living wages. The petition, 15 meters long, was delivered to the parliament and the teachers attended the parliamentary committees calling for their job classification implementation and wage increase.

Iran Labor Report