Coordinating Council for Oil Contract Workers’ Protests: All detained workers must be released

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No level of repression will silence us

All detained colleagues must be released

According to reports, during the violent crackdown on protests and the killing of civilians in the regions of Asaluyeh, Kangan, Dayyer, Lamerd, Parsian, and surrounding areas, a number of oil-sector workers employed in various regions have been arrested. Some of these arrests took place in workers’ homes and company dormitories.

These cases are connected to protests by our colleagues that coincided with the nationwide popular demonstrations in the month of Dey (Dec-Jan). At that time, hundreds of project-based workers from Omran Sahel Company—a contractor affiliated with the IRGC—working on development projects in the South Pars Special Economic Zone went on strike in protest over unpaid back wages. Despite intense security threats, these workers stood their ground and, while insisting on their demands, refused to return to their workplaces. The simultaneity of these protests and the solidarity of workers with nationwide strikes—particularly with the protests of workers and residents of cities adjacent to the South Pars Special Economic Zone—led to these arrests in coordination with Khatam al-Anbia Headquarters.

According to the same reports, in several neighboring companies, including project-based, operational, permanent, contract, and third-party (arkān-e sāles) workers who participated in the protests and were identified, security measures were taken and a number of them were arrested. Colleagues report that over the past month, around thirty skilled project-based workers were released on heavy bail through mediation and selection by Omran Sahel management. However, the remaining detainees are being held without the right to visitation or contact with their families in a warehouse belonging to Khatam al-Anbia Headquarters. Some detained workers, following the fabrication of security-related cases, have been transferred to prisons in Bushehr and Shiraz.

Given that these workers have been held for over a month in an industrial warehouse with no means of communication, there is no precise information available regarding their health condition. According to families of the detainees, security agencies have denied the detained workers access to legal counsel by making promises of release. In addition, reports indicate that a number of workers employed at Negine Makran Petrochemical, Fajr Jam Gas Refinery, and Kangan Petro-Refinery—who went on strike on the 8th, 9th, and 17th of Dey (Dec 28, 29, Jan 7) in protest against poor living conditions and unpaid wages—have been summoned or temporarily detained.

According to colleagues, despite repeated promises, none of the wage arrears or workers’ demands have been fulfilled, and conditions in workplaces remain extremely securitized and repressive.

The Coordinating Council for Oil Contract Workers’ Protests, in solidarity with the Coordinating Council for Non-Official Oil Workers (Third-Party Workers), declares its full support for the detained colleagues and emphasizes their immediate and unconditional release. As we previously stated in our protest statement condemning the killing of protesting citizens in Dey, no level of repression or killing will silence us as workers or as a people. We warn that if the killings continue and the detention of our colleagues persists, we will utilize a range of protest tools—especially strikes and the complete shutdown of workplaces.

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