Navigating Precarity: Organizational Diversity in Iran’s Industrial Labor Mobilizations

Since 2010, industrial workers in Iran have confronted mounting challenges from deindustrialization and financialization, reshaping labor processes and fueling widespread mobilizations. Despite facing similar structural pressures, workers across various sectors have adopted diverse organizational forms, ranging from grassroots self-organization to collaboration with state-controlled labor councils. This paper examines this diversity through a comparative analysis of four key cases of labor mobilization in Iran: the Haft-Tappeh Sugar Cane Company, Iran National Steel Industrial Group (INSIG), Heavy Equipment Production Company (HEPCO), and Chadormalu Mining and Industrial Company (CMIC). Each of these companies has undergone severe cost-cutting measures that increased worker precarity, including factory closures, wage suppression, and the introduction of new labor management regimes.

Drawing on in-depth interviews and content analysis of nearly a decade’s worth of news reports, social media posts, and official statements, this study explores how workers have employed varying organizational repertoire in response to these pressures. It reveals that the socio-political context—particularly the workers' prior organizing experiences and regional political traditions—plays a critical role in shaping their choice between horizontal, grassroots organizations and formal state-led structures. Furthermore, the findings underscore the importance of broader societal alliances, ethnic identities, and local community ties in sustaining grassroots resistance against state repression.

This research contributes to the broader debate on labor activism by illustrating how external socio-political dynamics influence the organizational forms and strategies of worker mobilization. By highlighting the role of historical legacies, political culture, and social alliances, this study offers new insights into labor organizing within precarious industries, advancing scholarly understanding of how traditional and emerging forms of labor activism interact in contexts of economic and political upheaval.