From the early hours of this morning, May 17, the strike of the drivers of Tehran Vahed bus Company in the BRT line systems continued, and the workers and employees of the repair shops, windows, and bus stops also joined the strike. According to initial reports, the drivers of the western stop and systems 2, 4 and 5 refused to go to the line and were forced to leave the bus station under police pressure.
This is a nationwide strike and the Islamic regime has closed schools and offices in several provinces of the country, including Tehran, Alborz, Lorestan, etc., under the pretext of “air pollution” bur due to fear of the spread of protests. Despite these closures, drivers’ strike is quite noticeable in the city, considering that these workers transfer more than 1.5 million passengers daily in Tehran. The strike of BRT bus workers has become a socially noticeable political event in the midst of popular protests and affected the situation in a big city like Tehran.
The government is trying to end the BRT drivers’ strike at all costs. A number of drivers and workers were arrested yesterday and are still in custody. Government agents are coming and going to the checkpoints, trying to break the strike by intimidating and sometimes arresting and persecuting the striking drivers.
In the meantime the decision of the Tehran mayor to not increase the wages more than 10 present has not changed and it has not agreed to accept the increase of workers’ salaries in accordance with the resolution of the Supreme Labor Council. Another attempt in this direction was the night training of a number of Pasdaran and militia as drivers, which was reportedly futile and caused a lot of damage to the buses. But the striking drivers have announced that they will continue the strike until the final salary is increased and the detained colleagues are released.
BRT drivers are protesting against the non-increase of salaries based on the wage increase approved by Supreme Labor Council, which is still several times below the poverty line. In addition, contract work and poor working conditions are other topics of protest for these workers.
May17, 2022