Contractors working for the Qeshm Heavy Oil Refinery Co. staged a protest outside the company’s building after announcing a strike over pay, the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency reported. The workers went on strike on Aug. 2. They are employed through third-party contractors and have said that they have not been paid regularly for months, ILNA reported on Saturday, without citing a source.

An unnamed manager at the refinery, located on the island of Qeshm in the Persian Gulf and close to the Strait of Hormuz, said the dispute concerns pay levels and denied that wages hadn’t been paid to employees, ILNA reported.