The Iranian regime’s head of judiciary in Khuzestan province claimed that the gathering and guild protests of the workers of National Steel Industrial Group of Iran “do not comply with the law” and added: “Our patience is limited and if the gatherings persist, we have to deal with them.”
Farhad Afsharnia, in an interview with the state-run ISNA news agency, said that if the workers wanted the officials to hear their voice and say that there were problems with this company, this has happened and the “continued protests are not right.”
The head of judiciary of Khuzestan threatened the workers and added: “We do not allow the social and labour issues of the country to be an excuse for foreign hostile networks.”
“We have regarded the protesters so far so that no special encounter occurs, but if these gatherings are going to continue, we will have to deal with these people,” he said.
Prior to this, the regime’s judiciary in this province had issued a directorate to ban and illegalize the gathering of Petrochemical workers who have been gathering to claim their wage arrears. The judiciary had warned that from now on it would deal with any disorder of “disturbance” in companies order.
In the past few days, workers of the National Iranian Steel Industrial Group gathered in front of the governorate of Khuzestan during the strike. They demand payment of at least three months of wage arrears and their benefits and the clarification of how they pay their salary and their end of the year (New Year) rewards.
Following the strike Free Trade Union of Workers of Iran recently announced the arrest of more than 10 workers from the National Iranian Steel Industrial Group in Ahwaz.
According to the workers’ organization, these workers had been arrested on Thursday night March 1 after the security forces attacked their homes. The arrest order was issued by the regime’s Attorney General’s Office in Ahwaz.
