The recent wave of blackouts and the electricity crisis has now hit the workers of Ferroalloy Azna Company in Lorestan Province, where 150 contract workers were dismissed. This comes despite the fact that workers play no role in creating the energy crisis—yet they are the first victims of the government’s incompetence in managing resources and meeting basic production needs.

Once again, this crisis shows that under the current system, workers not only lack job security, but every failure and structural breakdown ultimately falls on their shoulders and those of their families. A worker who has spent years in production can suddenly be thrown out of the labor cycle with one employer’s decision—because of the plundering of energy resources and the lack of stable infrastructure.

The dismissal of 150 workers is only a warning sign. If the electricity crisis continues, and if no united protest emerges, many more workers in this company and in similar industries will face the same fate. A worker who is unorganized, isolated, and alone is the easiest target of such policies. But experience has shown that wherever workers act organized and united, they have been able to resist these pressures and demand their rights.

The Ferroalloy Azna workers are neither responsible for the energy crisis nor should they pay the price for the government’s incompetence in providing electricity and managing production.

The immediate demand is the unconditional reinstatement of the dismissed workers. At the same time, the remaining workforce must protest this decision—because silence in the face of today’s dismissals will mean acceptance of their own tomorrow.

The energy crisis will continue. But only organized and united workers can change their fate and prevent government-made crises from turning into disasters for their lives.

Editorial Board of Pezhvak-e Kar Iran (Echo of Iran’s Labor)