On 11th April, over 4,500 truck drivers continued with their assembly and strike in Bandar Abbas transportation terminal, southern Iran, for the sixth consecutive day. The previous day, officials of the Iranian regime arrested three protestors instead of listening to their requests.
In solidarity with fellow workers in Bandar Abbas, approximately 6,000 truck drivers in Shiraz, Esfahan and Yazd also went on strike. They called for the unconditional release of those that had been arrested.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) reported: “This protest gathering is against the dominion of corruption in Iran by the Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization that loads the trucks upon extortion and receiving bribes while favouring the regime’s elements by giving them special privileges and loading their trucks out of the queue. This has resulted in hardworking drivers having to wait in line for up to 20 days.”
Moreover, the tax department has been adding to the gravity of the situation by imposing various different kinds of commissions and charges through different departments in the government.
Drivers in Iran have been demanding a change in the corrupt management of the Iran Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization for some time now. However, the government is only interested in using various pretences to extort more and more money from the drivers.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran’s Labor Committee is calling for the condemnation of the regime’s use of these agencies to repress the drivers and Iranian people in general. Mr. Abbas Davari, the Chair of the Labor Committee, hailed the striking drivers. He called on all transportation syndicates, worker unions, and other worker rights defenders to support the drivers who are on strike in Iran. He also demanded the unconditional release of the drivers that were arrested.
The Iranian people, in particular the youths, are asked to support and show their solidarity with the truck drivers who work so hard, and of course their families. The Iranian regime is spending billions of dollars of the people’s wealth on “warmongering interventions and export of terrorism to the region and its nuclear and missile programs”, while society is left with “poverty, misery, the pillage of their wages, and oppression”.
