Iranian Steel Worker Protests Continue For Sixth Day
Iranian National Steel Industrial Group employees entered their sixth consecutive day of strike action on Thursday to obtain better working conditions.
Iranian National Steel Industrial Group employees entered their sixth consecutive day of strike action on Thursday to obtain better working conditions.
A group of workers met with representatives from the Khuzestan province's General Department of Labor, the National Bank, and several other government agencies on Thursday according to the Free Union of Iranian Workers Telegram channel.
A list of demands to be raised at the meeting was published, which included "Removal of the corrupt CEO, removing the National Bank ownership, and workers' participation in the management of the company". However, no results have been released as of yet.
"The independent voice of Ahvaz National Steel Industrial Group workers" released a statement through the Free Union of Iranian Workers, prior to the scheduled meeting.
The authors of the statement said that in the last six days, “Authorities have been eyeing the workers' protest for their share of the company's loot”, and they are using “every means to create division and disrupt the strike” by making “empty promises” and exerting military and security pressure.
Moreover, they stated they would continue their strike as long as “authorities' threats and inaction continue”.
A further 17 employees were prohibited from working on the second day of the protests.
Iranian National Steel Industrial Group, previously controlled by Amir Mansour Aria Investment Company, has gone under private ownership following legal proceedings and the execution of Aria for embezzlement.
In the past few months, workers from a variety of industries, members of different guilds, and retirees have organized protests to oppose the current economic climate, met with crackdowns by security forces during several of the gatherings.
Earthquake mortality has been found to be higher in countries where corruption is high and in the past 30 years, 83% of all earthquake-related deaths have occurred in anomalously corrupt countries, according to a 2011 report.
In the aftermath of a natural disaster, deterioration of public institutions and a proliferation of inferior building stock can lead to more severe consequences.
As Iran is prone to natural disasters, the UN emphasizes the importance of adopting an effective long-term strategy but the details of mismanagement indicate that tragedies such as the tragedy of the Bam earthquake may repeat themselves.
Authorities reported the Bam earthquake death toll a massive 17 years after the tragedy. Until then, the numbers were estimates and not based on official data. The authorities in Bam resorted to “traditional” healing methods in the first nights following the earthquake, which the Rouydad24 website identified as “opium” being given to survivors.
Further examples of poor management can be found in the book by Bijan Daftari, the head of the Iranian Red Cross Society (IRCS) Rescue and Relief Organization at the time of the earthquake. The authorities failed to locate the epicenter of the earthquake for hours, he said.
Many could not imagine earthquakes occurring in that region since it was the home of Bam City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site dating back to the Achaemenid era (6th to 4th centuries BC) that had stood strong for centuries. Furthermore, all communication with the city of Bam was disrupted, and the airport was temporarily inaccessible.
Municipalities, fire departments, hospitals, medical centers, and police stations in Bam city were destroyed, as well as key municipal officials, such as the mayor. In other words, virtually all of the city's infrastructure and vital arteries were destroyed.
The arrival of rescue forces took hours, and the only effective force for rescue was the remaining healthy victims, who, according to another IRCS official Jamal al-Dini, had not received sufficient training. Daftari also pointed out that the government made a mistake by involving the IRGC in the disaster management process.
“Given that the IRGC did not have a pre-defined plan for such cases, and no exercise had been conducted with other organizations, this decision made the response process difficult for some time,” Daftrai wrote in his memoir.
Iran experiences an average of 10,000 earthquakes per year, according to the UN which defines the only acceptable response to such disasters as long-term reconstruction, recovery, and risk reduction. It has been demonstrated that earthquake-resistant construction can prevent tragedies from occurring such as is found in Japan and Chile.
After a 7.3-magnitude earthquake in Ezgeleh southwest Iran in 2017, the Iranian authorities were once again inadequately prepared to deal with the ensuing crisis.
In a report titled "Crisis in Crisis Management'' in 2017, Shahrvand newspaper quoted Hamidreza Eskash, a crisis management lecturer and consultant, as saying: "Crisis management in Ezgeleh was no different from what happened in Bam. The number of facilities and resources had increased a bit, and we saw more helicopters in the sky.”
This statement is supported to a large extent by the report of the Housing, Road and Urban Development Research Center on the Ezgeleh earthquake. The report states that the destroyed structures were not suitable for seismic zones, the same thing which happened in Bam and its surrounding villages.
Mismanagement still prevails in logistics preparation and response to the crisis, which is the result of managers' ideological viewpoints. A memorandum of understanding signed with the Qom seminary to reduce natural disasters reflects the view of the leaders of the Islamic Republic.
With experts warning of a possible tremor in Tehran with a population of 11 million and located in a seismic region, any large earthquake will result in a disaster of epic proportions, unless the government begins to seriously prepare itself.
