Almost 800 workers of the Haft Tappeh sugarcane complex went on strike and gathered inside the factory site in June 2020, demanding months of unpaid wages and benefits, the renewal of their social welfare and medical insurance, job security and the return of the privatised mill to the public sector. The action was the continuation of a dispute running since January 2018 in which dozens of workers and syndicate members were detained in late 2018.