Two hundred and fifty workers at the Crepe Naz textiles factory in Harsin County (in Kermanshah Province, western Iran) stopped work on 12-15 September to protest against not being paid their wages for the past four months.
The Crepe Naz factory is affiliated to Mellat Bank and operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Industries and Mines. Its workers work a three-shift pattern in a day.
During the strike representatives from Harsin County governor’s office, the county’s Labour Office and the Kermanshah Province governor’s office, visited the factory to assess the situation. In the end, fearing that they might be sacked using the factory’s bankruptcy as an excuse, the workers accepted that their unpaid wages can be paid in ‘two instalments’ and went back to work.
The workers agreed that to begin with they would accept 200,000 tomans ($202.47) as the ‘first instalment’ and that in late September they would receive the remaining 275,000 tomans ($253.09) of their wages. They also issued an ultimatum to their employer that if they are not paid all their backpay by late October then they would go on strike again.
Source: The Free Trade Union of Iranian Workers
Translation: Iranian Workers’ Solidarity Network.