The Role of Housing Policies in the Dissatisfaction of Workers of Anglo Iranian Oil Company in Khuzestan Oilfields

The issue of housing has always played an important role among the internal factors contributing to the dissatisfaction of the workers of Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) and the strikes held by them, because providing housing meant providing a shelter and giving identity to workers and their families. However, the role of housing issue in comparison with other occupational and welfare factors that affected AIOC during its operation has not been studied independently. Therefore, the present study has adopted a descriptive-analytical method and benefited from library-based and archival research to determine the role and importance of housing policies in various periods compared to other factors that resulted in dissatisfaction among the Iranian workers of AIOC. The Results showed that since the discovery of oil in Iran until the amendment of the D’Arcy agreement in 1933, the housing issue had not played any significant role in the dissatisfaction of workers, while it had become the main factor in this regard after 1933, especially after the end of Reza Shah’s rule and the rise in the number of the company’s workers during the second world war. The strikes held by the workers in 1946 made AIOC to change its policies and move toward mass production and satisfying the needs of its workers, but the company did not have enough time to implement its programs as the strikes continued and the Iranian oil was nationalized.