Living and Working in Times of War: Iranian Oil Workers in the 1980s

Having played a decisive role during the revolution, Iranian oil workers entered the 1980s with great expectations about their living and working conditions. But they also expected to continue and expand the limited control they had gained in the management of the oil industry through their collective workplace organizations.
This paper discusses how the war period (1980-88) shaped the working and living conditions of oil workers and it traces the conflicts that emerged among oil workers and between them and the industry’s management. This setting provides an opportunity to investigate how identification with class, nation and religion shaped the outcomes of the conflicts.
Islamic war-nationalism and the ideology of self-sufficiency shaped the industrial relations of the oil industry during this period. Based on archival material, oral history and journals, the paper provides a historical account of the repression of independent workers’ organizations and the reactions of oil workers, the formation of Islamic Labour Associations, the upward mobility of pro-government employees, and the impact of industrial, social and housing policies of the oil industry.
The paper also looks closely at the impact of the war in the Abadan Refinery and the dislocation of its workforce. Tracing the fortunes of a number of workers who migrated to other cities, the paper shows the tragedy and the complexity of the political and social conditions of the war period, demonstrating the centrality of the fate of Abadan for the Iranian labour movement.