Iranian parliament faced with labour protests

Retired Iranian workers gathered in protest in front of the Islamic Republic parliament to contest their pay increase and changes in their health benefits.

According to Kaleme website, hundreds of retired workers from Pakdasht and Varamin House of Workers protested against the transfer of their health benefits from Social Welfare to the Ministry of Health and also slammed the 6 percent increase in their pay which they claimed should have been at least 15 percent.

On Wednesday, retired workers from west of Tehran and Shar-e Rey also staged a demonstration in front of the parliament. As a result the MPs voted down the plan to transfer the workers’ health benefits to the Ministry of Health.

Head of Veteran Union Workers, Hossein Sadeghi, told ILNA that the demonstrating workers were informed from within the parliament that the MPs had rejected the plan.

Sadeghi added that still there are a number of other demands from the workers which need to be addressed by the parliament.

Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported that the parliament also witnessed a protest from truck drivers today to protest against over-pricing practices of Iran Khodro Diesel in the sale of trucks.

In the past month, numerous labour protests have taken place in front of the Iranian parliament.