At least five thousand contract workers at the South Pars energy hub in Asaluyeh staged one of the largest labor protests in Iran in years on Tuesday, defying heavy security pressure and warnings from authorities.
Workers from 12 South Pars refineries refused to report for duty and instead marched toward the Asaluyeh governor’s office in a rare mass demonstration over wages and job security, sources told Iran International.
Despite roadblocks, security deployments, and threats issued in the days prior, the protest drew unprecedented numbers from across the gas complex.
The Council for Organizing Protests of Informal Oil Workers described the march as “a magnificent procession,” while the Free Union of Iranian Workers called it “one of the biggest protest gatherings in Iran’s oil industry in nearly five decades.”
State-linked outlets sought to downplay the scale, describing it only as “a protest of a group of workers” without mentioning turnout numbers.
Labor organizations said authorities had issued direct warnings to workers, including text messages from the South Pars Gas Complex and threats from refinery security units.
Security and police forces had tightened control over all access routes to Asaluyeh, stopping vehicles carrying workers from reaching the rally.
Asaluyeh is a port city and industrial hub located in southern Iran on the Persian Gulf coast, in Bushehr Province. It is best known as the center of Iran’s South Pars/North Dome Gas Field, the world’s largest natural gas field shared between Iran and Qatar.
Labor union support
The Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company issued a statement backing the South Pars workers, calling their demands “legitimate, humane, and long overdue.”
"The awareness, solidarity, and resolve of Iran’s working class, while independent organizing and collective resistance remain the only paths to securing workers’ rights," the statement said.
In a related development, a three-day simultaneous strike took place at nine onshore rigs and two offshore rigs of the North Drilling Company, Telegram channel Afkar-e Naft reported on Tuesday.
