Factory workers block highway to protest unpaid salaries:
press
TEHRAN, Nov 20 (AFP) - More than 300 workers at one of Iran's oldest
factories blocked a major highway west of Tehran to protest working conditions
and their unpaid salaries, newspapers reported on Monday.
The workers from the Aladdin gas stove factory burned tires and set
up barricades on Sunday to protest what one labourer called the "indifference"
of authorities to their plight.
Another worker, cited by the Doran-e Emrouz newspaper, said they had
not been paid in four months.
Both private and state-owned factories have been under threat of going
out of business in recent months.
Majid Ansari, an MP and close ally of President Mohammad Khatami, recently
warned that the unemployment crisis was threatening both society and the
ideals of the Islamic revolution.
The official unemployment rate is 15 percent though unofficial estimates
put the figure higher.
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