Shafaq News- Basra

Dozens of former workers of the Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) project —a key oil refining unit at the South Refineries Company— blocked the facility’s gates in Basra on Monday for a second consecutive day, preventing staff from entering as they demanded formal employment within Iraq’s Ministry of Oil.

The protest representative, Ahmed Shaker, told Shafaq News that around 350 workers had spent years on the project before being dismissed after its completion without clear guarantees or entitlements. He accused recent recruitment drives by local authorities of relying on favoritism, claiming they included relatives and associates of officials.

“We have been protesting for more than a year and a half, yet our chances have been overlooked,” he said. “The demonstrations will continue until our demands are met and these marginalization policies are ended.”

The protest comes amid a broader wave of demonstrations across Iraq on Monday, with medical graduates and contract workers rallying in Baghdad, Basra, and the Kurdistan Region to demand jobs and official appointment orders.

Public-sector hiring has been largely frozen since October 2025, when Iraq’s Federal Service Council ordered all ministries, state institutions, and provincial authorities to halt recruitment across centrally funded and self-financed entities.