Oil and petrochemical workers from 60 companies across eight Iranian provinces are now on strike demanding higher wages and better contractual conditions, Iran International reported , adding that the strikes have been intensifying since last week. The London-based Iran-focused outlet explained that the strikes follow a change in the way people rehired in the country’s oil industry. Retiring full-time workers are being replaced with employees hired on a temporary contract basis. After 20 years of this practice, to date there are more than 150,000 temporary workers in the Iranian oil industry who are denied the benefits that full-time, long-term contract workers enjoy. At the same time, Iran International noted in an earlier report on the strikes, inflation in Iran amid U.S. sanctions is soaring, rising by over 50 percent in the past 12 months alone. Food prices have gone up by 70 percent over the same period. Temporary workers […]