HRANA – Following the recent military attacks, workers employed in various industrial sectors, particularly in the provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan, and Bushehr, have been facing unemployment, lack of access to relevant insurance coverage, and other challenges.
According to HRANA, citing ILNA, the spread of unemployment caused by the war has been more visible in the provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan, and Bushehr than in other parts of the country.
The report states that with the outbreak of the recent war, many of the country’s production and service units suffered serious damage. Some of these units were directly targeted by airstrikes, while others were pushed into crisis by the war-driven economic conditions. This crisis led to a significant rise in the number of unemployed people, workforce reductions in various units, business stagnation, and consequently a several-fold increase in unemployment insurance applicants across different provinces. Tehran, Khuzestan, and Bushehr are considered among the principal economic victims of the war, and the expansion of war-related unemployment has been more tangible there than elsewhere in the country.
Akbar Ghorbani, Executive Secretary of the Workers’ House for West Tehran and a labor market expert, said in this regard: some factories in Tehran Province, especially in western Tehran, which has always been highly industrially active, still have not resumed operations after the Nowruz holidays. He added that the Workers’ House remains in contact with its representatives and is monitoring workforce reductions in small, medium, and large units. According to him, one well-known company in western Tehran reported laying off 10 to 12 workers in each unit. Most of these layoffs are due to the current economic conditions. This has led to two major demands from the government and the Social Security Organization: first, strengthening the unemployment insurance fund with government credits, and second, assisting units directly and indirectly damaged by the war, while also imposing strict oversight to preserve the labor market in the country’s industrial units.
The labor relations expert further emphasized that there are also other cases in which the reason for the shutdown of industrial units is the employer’s exploitation of the existing conditions. Some employers, due to a particular economic outlook and fear of wartime conditions, have taken steps to reduce staff. Some employers have also carried out layoffs to increase pressure on the workforce, avoid wage payments, and evade compliance with this year’s wage increase resolution.
The report further cites Ghorban Darvishi, Executive Secretary of the Workers’ House in Khuzestan Province and a member of the Abadan Social Security Retirees’ Association, who pointed to the province’s problems during wartime and the ceasefire period. He said that in Khuzestan alone, at least 35 major production units were recently lost after military attacks. Most of these attacks targeted the Imam Port Special Economic Zone, the Mahshahr region, and the petrochemical sector. Khuzestan Steel and Oxin Steel also sustained damage. According to their estimates, if the problems caused by these layoffs are not managed, between 50,000 and 55,000 people could become directly unemployed due to the attacks and the economic and industrial pressures on the province.
Darvishi added that some of the province’s steel industries had already been facing serious difficulties even before the twelve-day war, and many workers had been staying home while still receiving wages. He warned that 100,000 unemployed people in one province means turning 100,000 sources of Social Security income into expenses for the fund. These industries urgently need immediate, out-of-turn unemployment insurance support. He also noted that some industries, due to falling sales and disappearing demand, had implemented widespread layoffs, the number of which may even exceed the directly war-related unemployment figures. This number also excludes construction workers in the province, a significant portion of whom have become completely unemployed. He stressed that many employers in units not directly damaged say they are unable to pay workers’ insurance and salaries even at last year’s rates.
Layoffs After Contract Expiration in the Second Phase of the Ilam Gas Refinery Project
According to ILNA, contract workers in the second phase construction project of the Ilam Gas Refinery in Chavar County reported the layoff of about 150 local coworkers from the beginning of Mehr last year up to the present. In this unit, located in Chavar County, around 350 workers are employed under the responsibility of the contractor company Jahanpars, and since the beginning of Mehr last year, more than 150 of them, who are local to the county, have become unemployed after the end of their employment contracts.
The report quotes one of the project’s contract workers as saying that 58 workers were laid off in Mehr last year, 52 at the end of Esfand, and 42 in Farvardin this year, all after their contracts expired. The worker also stated that some laid-off workers have still not received their wages for Bahman and Esfand of last year. The status of these workers’ unemployment insurance is also unclear. Meanwhile, the remaining coworkers are worried about their own job security.
This contract worker said that the layoffs are taking place even though at least three to four years remain until the completion of the second phase of the Ilam Gas Refinery project, and the parent employer appears to feel no obligation toward the workers. It is also unclear which authority or institution should be approached to pursue this issue.
