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Conversation with Simin Rouzgar

Shapour Ehsani Rad, born in 1340 in Masjed Soleiman, holds a diploma in mechanical engineering and works as a laborer and representative for laid-off workers in the steel and profile industry in Saveh. Mr. Ehsani Rad is also a member of the board of directors of the Iranian Workers’ Union and has been one of the coordinators of a petition with forty thousand signatures for increasing the minimum wage of workers.

In this issue of the Peace Line, we went to this labor activist and asked him about the results of privatization of factories and industrial complexes in Iran, recent protests of Haft Tappeh workers, and the future of similar labor protests.

In recent years, the name of the Nishkar Haft Tapeh Company has always been heard among labor protests. What is the reason for the start and continuation of these protests during the past decade?

As we want to evaluate the protests of the workers of Haft Tappeh, Kian Tire, Dezful Sugar and Sugar Cane, Mahshahr Petrochemical, Hepco, Azarab Arak, Isfahan Acrylic, Ahvaz Steel and hundreds of other labor protests, and examine the reasons and causes of these widespread labor protests and strikes, as well as the trend of bankruptcy and closure of key industries in the past ten to fifteen years, it is necessary to look back at the past and briefly examine the process of industrialization and modernization of the country. If we consider the beginning of industrialization and modernization after the Turkmenchay and Golestan treaties, which led to the entry of capital and technology into Iran, this process of change from feudalism to capitalism led to demands for freedom and justice in the Constitutional Revolution. The political despotism of Reza Khan, who emerged from the defeat of the Constitutional Movement, although accelerated the economic

After the revolution, not only was this gap not filled, but the link between political and religious tyranny was strengthened. The foundations of civil society, such as organizations, parties, and free media, were not established and with the restriction of social freedoms, the conflict and gap between society and the political system became even more polarized. As a result, after the revolution, when industries experienced significant growth and the working class played a major role in social production, and urbanization became dominant in society, due to the existence of a tyrannical political system, the absence of organizations, parties, and free media that not only participate in economic and political affairs but also prevent corruption through monitoring and control, led to economic and even political sectors becoming corrupt and systematically corrupt (the same problem that led to the 1979 revolution).

Based on the above points, we are now addressing the issue of factory bankruptcies and workers’ protests. In the past ten to fifteen years, most government-owned factories and key industries have suffered losses and damages due to the corruption prevailing in them, and the government was forced to sell them to the private sector in order to escape from this situation. However, due to the structural and political corruption, this privatization was also done in the worst possible way, with favors and concessions given to supporters and allies, the same semi-governmental and military institutions, and the mafia of wealth and power, which are the secret names of these governmental institutions, took control of the factories and industries and the fate and lives of millions of workers and their families. As a result, the workers, who have always been protesting against their current situation, and after their bloody suppression in 1978-1982 and eight years of war, once again, with the exploitation of the working class, the growth of technology and

What happened that Nishkar Haft Tapeh Company was transferred from the government to the private sector?

As I mentioned in the first question, corruption, bribery, and inefficient management, which were only concerned with their own pockets and profits, caused significant damage to state industries. Based on this, they interpreted Article 44 of the Constitution as privatization and this privatization was carried out without auction or through fake auctions to good friends of the government. The transfer of 24,000 fertile lands of Haft Tapeh to a young, inexperienced person named Asad Bigi, who was found to be affiliated with the government, was the main cause of the strikes and protests of Haft Tapeh workers who have been constantly deprived of their delayed wages and have lost a significant portion of their job benefits in recent years.

What changes does privatization of factories and companies create in their process that leads workers to protest?

Government officials and new elites have reached a time when they have become owners of factories and industries through the power of corruption and under the guise of privatization. Besides quickly achieving profitability and accumulating capital, they have no other intentions. Therefore, the easiest way for them is not to increase productivity by bringing in technology, improving the skills of workers, and respecting their rights, but rather to divide and sell fertile lands, engage in corruption, or create quick-profit service industries, and even destroy and shut down factories.

How do workers in various factories and industrial complexes throughout the country, whose wages are paid with delay, cope with the current inflationary conditions?

The increasing poverty and destitution, prevalence of false jobs and street vending, and ultimately homelessness and sleeping on the streets, on one hand, and the existence of alarming statistics of prisoners, addiction, divorce, crime, violence, murder and other crimes, on the other hand; all of which, with the consideration of millions of young people seeking employment and the enormous burden of inflation and inflation that they face every day, show how the lower class of society spends their days.

What lessons can be learned from the recent workers’ protests? What is your solution for future workers’ protests?

The rise of the labor movement, the rise of the protest-social movement of the working class, with the establishment of the capitalist system, the experience and awareness of the working class during the nearly two centuries of struggle, is a significant part of the lessons that the Iranian working class has also learned in this process. Apart from this generalization, the growth of technology and, as a result, the significant growth of knowledge and awareness of the Iranian working class in the past ten to fifteen years, which has been shaped by the heroic struggles of the working class in the past few decades, has reached a level of maturity, organization, and traditions of protest and strikes in its essence.

Therefore, after every protest and strike, workers become aware, learn from their experiences, and achieve growth and empowerment. Each protest and strike has its own unique circumstances, and the solution for each must be evaluated in its own time and place. However, the most important aspect in the course of workers’ strikes is the establishment of a sustainable organization within factories and industrial centers, which can serve as a platform for a nationwide organization, emerging from the bottom and the body of workers, and accelerating the achievement of their economic, social, and political demands with the least cost.

Thank you for the opportunity you have given us.