Oil industry contract workers gathered outside Iran’s presidential office in Tehran on Saturday to protest what they said were unfulfilled government promises to eliminate private contractors and secure direct employment with state energy companies.
Workers, who had traveled from oil-producing provinces to the capital, said the administration of President Masoud Pezeshkian had failed to deliver on its commitments to improve their job status and pay. Protesters chanted slogans including, “Enough with the promises – our tables are empty,” as they called for the government to honor pledges made earlier this year.
They cited Pezeshkian’s promises to abolish intermediary contracting firms, convert contract positions into permanent ones, and implement an equal pay system for all workers across the oil ministry’s subsidiaries. “These promises remain only on paper,” protesters said, adding that the result has been “continued discrimination and job insecurity for thousands of experienced workers.”
Workers demand direct employment
The demonstrators urged the government to sign direct contracts with oil workers rather than outsourcing them through third-party companies. They said contract employees, who perform the industry’s core operational work, have been excluded from key benefits and protections enjoyed by officially contracted staff. “The main burden of the oil industry lies on our shoulders, but we are denied fair pay and job security,” they said.
Organizers warned that if their demands are not met by the end of November 2025, they will expand their protests, holding weekly demonstrations outside the presidential office from December onward. They vowed to continue until the government delivers on its pledges to standardize pay and eliminate intermediary contractors.
Broader labor unrest
The Tehran protest followed other recent labor actions across Iran’s energy and industrial sectors. Electricity distribution workers from several provinces, including Ahvaz, joined the oil demonstrators to demand improved job conditions.
Separately, petrochemical workers in Chovar, Ilam province, staged their second protest in a week over low wages and what they described as management indifference to their living conditions. In September, steel workers at the National Iranian Steel Industrial Group in Ahvaz also held strikes over unpaid wages and job insecurity.
Workers in the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone in Assaluyeh have likewise pressed for fair pay and formal employment status, showing the persistence of labor unrest across Iran’s key energy hubs.
