Highlights and News-Workers’ Struggles in Iran- October 14, 2007
1- Vahed Syndicate’s Petition
2- Unite (Amicus) Kingston & District Trade Union In Solidarity with Workers in Iran
3- Thousands of Workers of Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company temporarily stopped their Strike action!
4- Demonstration in London
5- Open Letter to the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU)
Re: the WFTU’s Relations with Workers’ House of the Islamic Republic of Iran
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1-Vahed Syndicate’s Petition: Please email the list of the signatures to the syndicate’s following address: [email protected]
Defend Freedom of the Imprisoned Syndicate’s Workers to Defend the Syndicate’ Rights and Freedoms
It is nearly three years that the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburban Bus (Vahed) Company has been attacked, assaulted and restricted illegally. The Syndicate’s workers have been intimidated, dismissed, arrested and imprisoned because of being member of the Syndicate and supporting the free and independent trade union activities. At the moment, The President and vice president of the Syndicate are in jail for unapproved charges, and they have been denied to enjoy the right to have attorney for nonsense reason. The families of the dismissed and imprisoned workers are in the worst psychological and hardest financial situation. Whereas, according to the Principle 26 of the Constitution of Law, political parties and trade associations are free, and based on the fundamental principles and rights at work of the conventions which approved by International Labour Organisation including Convention No. 87, the right to Freedom of Association of trade unions have been recognized all around the world, and all the governments are obliged to comply with these rights.
Defending the freedom of imprisoned syndicate’s workers, Mr. Mansour Osanloo, President, and Mr. Ebrahim Madadi, Vice president of the Syndicate of the Workers of the Tehran and Suburban Bus (Vahed) Company, is defending the syndicate’s rights and freedoms.
We are signing this petition to request the comply with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Conventions of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work including the Convention No. 87 of International Labour Organisation, enforce International Covenants, which are considered as the National Law based on the Article 9 of the Civil Law, put into effect the principle 26 of the Constitution of Law, and release the imprisoned workers including Mr. Ebrahim Madadi and Mr. Mansour Osanloo immediately and unconditionally.
We are following up our urgent demands by sending the copy of this petition to the heads of Judiciary, Parliament and government of Islamic Republic. Also, by sending the copy of this petition to International Labour Organisation and all the trade unions all around the world we ask their immense supports.
Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburban Bus (Vahed) Company
September 8, 2007-10-10
CC:
- Your Excellency Leader of Iran Islamic Revolution
- The esteemed Chief of Judiciary Power
- The esteemed President of Islamic Republic of Iran
- The esteemed Chief of Commission of Principle 90 in Islamic Council Parliament
- International Labour Organisation
- All the Trade Unions around the world
Please do email the list of the signatures to the following address:
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2- Unite (Amicus) Kingston & District Trade Union Branch 1406
Free Salehi, Osanloo and Madadi Now! In Solidarity with Workers in Iran
Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 21 649 58 80
Email: [email protected]
I am writing this letter, on behalf of Unite (Amicus) Kingston & District Trade Union Branch 1406 to demand the release trade union prisions.
This trades union Branch represents over 800 skilled and technical workers in the engineering and service sectors in south west London in the UK. The Branch takes an active interest in all matters to do with workers rights across the world and considers that the fair treatment of workers doing their jobs is the hallmark of a fair and decent society. It was with horror that we received reports of the jailing of workers in your Islamic Republic for activities that are considered a basic right in any fair society.
This trade union Branch want to express our serous concerns regarding the health and well-being of Mahmoud Salehi who has been in Sanadaj’s central prison since April 9, 2007 as well as the continued detenton of Mr. Mansour Osanloo since July 10, 2007.
We are told that your government refuses to recognize freedom of association and the right to organize and has systematically repressed all independent activities of workers. This trade union Branch are therefore calling on your government to recognize workers’ internationally recognised rights to organise free and independent labour organisations and the right to strike. This trade union Branch ask you to release Mahmoud Salehi, Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi immediately and unconditionally as they are prisoner of conscience, detained solely for their labour activities.
This trade union Branch also demand that all repressions and charges and sentences against all other labour activists, including members of Vahed syndicate and Unemployed Workers’ Union and Haft Tapeh Workers be dropped unconditionally and permanently, and that state repression of workers’ rights cease in Iran once and for all.
Mr. Salehi, a founding member and the former president of the Bakery Workers’ Association of the city of Saqez and a well-known labour activist in Iran, has been sentenced unjustly to one year imprisonment and a three year suspended prison sentence for his labour activities. Mr. Salehi was arrested on April 9, 2007 without any prior notice and was immediately transferred to the city of Sanandaj. He faces a critical health condition because he only has one kidney, which functions at less than 20 percent of capacity, but the legal and prison authorities refuse to allow him the required treatments.
Mansour Osanloo, the president of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, was kidnapped by plain clothes agents on July 10, 2007. He was severely beaten and later transferred to the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran where he has been detained in section 209 with no right to bail. On November 19, 2006, Osanloo was similarly beaten and kidnapped and later was transferred to the Evin prison. After enduring one month of detention, Osanloo was released from section 209 of the Evin Prison on December 19, 2006. Prior to that, Osanloo had been in prison from December 22nd, 2005 for about 8 months until he was released on bail on Augusts 9, 2006. In May 2007, Tehran revolutionary Court, Branch 14, issued a prison sentence of five years against Mr. Osanloo, but his lawyer had filed an appeal and his case was in process.
Moreover, Mr. Ebrahim Madadi, the vice-president of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran & Suburb Bus Company, has been in detention since August 9, 2007. His charges include ‘propaganda against establishment, conspiracy and assembly for the purpose of endangering national security”. Other members of Syndicate have also been facing persecution and expulsion. The judicial authorities have also condemned thirteen member and activists of the Union of Dismissed and Unemployed Workers who had participated in the May Day 2007 rally in the city of Sanandaj with prison and whipping sentences.
Furthermore, thousands of workers of the state-owned Haft Tapeh sugar cane factory in city of Shoush in the Khuzestan province have been on strike since September 29, 2007. These workers have been facing severe repression by security forces through numerous arrests, intimidation and violent attacks on strikers. There are about 5000 employees in this factory, and they are struggling, among other things, for unpaid wages and the right to organize. Many other workers in different industries and areas in Iran are facing similar unbearable conditions.
Yours sincerely,
Steve Pryle
Branch Secretary of Unite (Amicus) Kingston & District Trade Union Branch 1406
c/o 22/24 Worple Road, Wimbledon, London, SW19 4DD. [email protected]
This letter has been copied to :
1
Leader of the Islamic Republic:
Ayatollah Sayed *Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street
Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: [email protected] OR [email protected]
Fax: 011 98 251 7774 2228
2 Head of the Judiciary:
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Justice Building
Panzdah-Khordad Square
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: 011 98 21 3390 4986 (may be difficult to reach)
Email: [email protected]
Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of
Iran to the United Nations Institutions in Geneva, Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28,
1209 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 733 02 03, E-mail: [email protected]
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3- Thousands of Workers of Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company temporarily stopped their Strike action! Threats, arrests and intimidations did not work; employer had to yield to some of the workers’ demands. Workers have vowed to resume strike actions if their remaining demands are not met.
Workers of Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company
went on strike since September 29, 2007. They have temporarily stopped their
strike and sit-ins since October 11, 2007after most of their unpaid wages were
paid by the employer. The Company is a state-owned enterprise. About 5000
employees work for this company. Many others also rely heavily on the existence
of this company in city of Shoush in the Khuzestan province for their livelihood.
These workers faced severe repression by security forces throughout their
strike but they did not retreat from their demands and continued to protest and
raised public awareness. Numerous arrests, intimidation and violent attacks on
strikers took place during the strike. Employees of this company have had
numerous demands, among them are immediate payment of all unpaid wages and the
right to organize as well as permanent position for workers on temporary
contracts, company housing, job classification, enforcement of various labour
standards including health an safety and so on. Workers have been opposing thee
existence of the Islamic labour council in the company, which are affiliated
with the government-sponsored Workers’ House. These councils are the only legal
entities in workplaces but they are not there to represent workers’ interest
because their mandate is to work with employers and government. They are in
fact the eyes and ears of employers and government, in this case the company is
owned by the government. Workers in Haft Tapeh have been demanding the
formation of their independent unions. Following is one of the public
statements issued by striking workers of the Haft
Tapeh sugar cane Company to trade unions in the
world, ILO and human rights organizations
”We inform you that we, the workers of Haft Tapeh sugar cane Company of Khuzestan (southern of Iran) have been on strike 16
times for two years to dispute the unjust policy of the government with respect
to this industry and nonpayment of our wages. But each time our employers and
the government made us promises without following our claims. We sent a
delegation to the governor of Shoush which met with the governor in order to
inform him of our problems and the dissatisfaction of worker with the company
and working conditions. The delegation informed him that by September 29, 2007
at 8 a.m. in the morning, the government and the company did not give our
demands, we will carry out a sit-in front of the office of the governor.
That was the case, the ultimatum was not respected and we began our sit-in
front of the office of the governor from the 29/09/07 and that made 4 days.
The workers decided to continue their action until arriving at a solution which
will answer their demands; with knowing to find a solution for the debts of the
company in order to prevent that from going bankrupt and the payment of the
delayed wages.
The company has produced sugar for 47 years and for the past 2 years because of
an unjust policy of government in the field, it has been threatened with
bankruptcy and the company is involved in debt of 85000000 euros. The
management also decided to reduce the debt of the company by selling the
agricultural land of the company, the factory of the food of the animals, the apparatuses
of the company and to reduce to 3000 thousand the number of paid (currently
they are 5000). Because the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company is a state
enterprise, the government can cancel very well the debts of the company like
other state enterprises such as the Insurance company, water and electricity,
gas and the taxes. But the policy of the government is influenced by the Mafia
of sugar. The government, at the request of this gangster band, had already
reduced before the tax of importation of sugar by the private sector of 140% to
4%!
The government, via the governor of Shoush, threatens us that if we continue
our action, it will send the police force to us!
We thus ask ILO and human rights organizations to require our government, due
to its membership with the ILO, to pay our delayed wages and to send a
delegation, particularly from the ILO, in order to solve the problems
enumerated above and to respect the international laws in force. If the ILO
does not follow up on this, given our government’s callousness, the job
security of 5000 workers will be threatened.
We also inform that the government does not give us the right to create our
trade union. It’s about one year that we are following up on our demands
without having any true representatives. We can better express our rights with
a trade-union organization, and to have an official representative helps to
following our claims. That also makes it more possible for the ILO to better
support us. Some workers who are not officially the representatives of the
workers but have been working on the issues of workers of the company face
discrimination and 4 of them are threatened with dismissal and arrests and
detention. The authorities want to impose on us an environment of fear and
terror so that we desist from following our claims.
In the end, we thank all labour and human rights organizations, and the
ILO, in advance for your support.
Workers of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company-Khuzestan”
Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and
Suburban Bus (Vahed) Company:
We support the struggle of Hatf Tapeh Sugar –Cane Company’s workers for getting their back pay, releasing their arrested colleagues, trying to continue to produce sugar in the country, and fighting against sugar imports.
As it has been mentioned in the letter of Haft Tapeh Sugar- Cane Company’s workers to International Labor Organization and International Trade Union Confederation, Haft Tapeh Sugar Company, which is an Agro Industrial Complex with more than 47 years operation, has been close to bankruptcy with more than 85 million dollars debts because of the government policy on sugar industry since 2 years ago. Government authorities and company managers decided to sell the company’s agricultural lands, livestock’s food factory as well as spare part factory and fire between 2000 to 5000 workers in order to pay some of the company’s debts off. The distressed workers gathered in protest and went to strike in order to get their back pay. On the sixth day of the Haft Tapeh workers’ protest, the Especial Anti Rally Disciplinary and Security Forces brutally confronted the protesting workers and severely beaten them by baton. Many workers were wounded and several workers were arrested and taken to unknown places. Mr Ramezan Alipour and Mr. Feraidoun Nikofard are among the arrested workers. The workers got very angry from detention of their colleagues, and after they heard about it they decided to move from the gathering place in Bonyad e Shahid Square toward Municipality and asked for immediate and unconditional release of their colleagues in addition to their previous demands.
The workers of Haft Tapeh Agro Industrial Sugar – Cane Company in Khozistan had gone to strike to get their wages and protested against the incorrect policy of governmental management towards the company’s bankruptcy inside the company 16 times in last two years, but unfortunately the managers had never kept their promises and any of the workers’ demands have not been fulfilled.
The Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburban Bus (Vahed) Company supports the decent workers of Haft Tapeh Sugar - Cane Company, who are the right demanding and independency seeking, and their efforts to continue to produce sugar in the country, protests against the suppression of these decent workers, and demands to pay attention to the workers’ problems, pay the workers’ back pay, and release the arrested workers immediately.
The Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburban Bus (Vaahed) Company believes that the only possible way of achieving to these legitimate demands is workers’ perseverance to persist in holding election and selecting their real workers’ representatives to form their independent labor syndicate. We call all right demanding workers of Haft Tapeh Agro Industrial Sugar - Cane stand together and express their solidarity to form their own Syndicate.
Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburban Bus (Vahed) Company
October 5, 2007
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4-Demonstration in London:
In solidarity with workers’ struggles in Iran and particularly in support of the strike and protest actions of thousands of workers of Haft Tapeh sugar cane Company in recent days, members of the IASWI and other labour activists and organizations hold a rally and picket line outside Iranian Embassy in London, UK on October 13, 2007. Protesters demanded the right to organize for workers, immediate freedom of Osanloo and Salehi and Madadi and other labour activists and political prisoners and the realization of all demands of Haft Tapeh workers. Workers also condemned the Islamic republic of Iran for its cruel repression of workers and progressive movements in Iran.
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5- Open Letter to the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU)
Re: the WFTU’s Relations with Workers’ House of the Islamic Republic of Iran
As you are well aware, a WFTU Delegation visited Workers’ House of the Islamic Republic of Iran (WH) on July 16-20, 2007. The photos of this visit can be seen at the WFTU website*. This is not the first time WFTU and the Workers House have been engaged in friendly relationships. WFTU seems to have established an ongoing close relationship with WH. WFTU has previously extended invitations to the WH to attend its conferences as a representative of the Iranian working class. It’s not even the first time an international labour federation has made such attempts to build close relationships with the WH. Each time however such attempts have received strong reactions by Iranian labour activists in Iran and abroad. WFTU too has previously received numerous letters regarding its unacceptable relationship with the WH. WFTU thus already knows very well that the Workers House is simply an instrument of the Islamic Republic of Iran and employers. It’s not even a trade union, independent or not, by the furthest stretch of the imagination. It’s an ideological group formed by the Islamic Republic of Iran for controlling Iranian labour movement. We and others in Iranian labour movement had previously sent WFTU information about WH that proves that WH is a means of controlling and suppressing independent labour activities and organizations in Iran. The Iranian labour movement undoubtedly sees the Workers House and the Islamic labour Councils as puppets of the Islamic Republic**.
Workers in Iran have been struggling tirelessly, despite ever-increasing repression, to form various independent organizations to demand the freedom of association and the right to organize and strike and other internationally recognized workers’ and human rights. Iranian workers are denied the right to form any independent organization and those who act to form one are fired, persecuted, arrested and imprisoned or exiled. Time and time again, workers and progressives and anti-capitalists in Iran have declared that the Workers’ House is not a labour organization and it does not represent workers at all. The expulsion of the Workers’ House delegations from all international gatherings has been a major demand of Iranian labour activists in Iran and abroad.
WFTU and US Military Intervention in Iran:
We recognize and value the fact that the WFTU has repeatedly opposed war and imperialist militarization by the United States and its allies against countries like Iraq and Iran, etc. The WFTU is absolutely right in its position that economic sanctions and war would primarily (and the most drastically) affect working people. WFTU is also right to state that the US and its allies have used the pretext of the struggle against terrorism to attack and restrict democratic and trade union rights under the pretext of war on terror. A position based on the working class interests, however, must go way beyond this. The Iranian working class and the independent labour movement in Iran strongly oppose war and militarization in the region and around the world. In the context of the current confrontation between the US and its European allies and the Iranian government, i.e. nuclear power and so on, the Iranian labour movement is holding an independent position because this is not the working class conflict. The Iranian working class strongly opposes all kinds of arms races and nuclear weapons in all countries without exception. In term of war on Iran, the Iranian labour movement strongly and unequivocally opposes any military intervention or sanctions against Iran, because it’s not only unacceptable and inhuman under any pretext, its main victims are always working people and their families. At the same time, the Iranian labour movement does not allow the Iranian government to use the threats of war and sanction as a pretext to continue, and intensify, persecuting, arresting, dismissing, kidnapping and jailing Iranian labour and progressive activists. Let’s make it clear once and for all, the Islamic republic of Iran is not an anti-imperialist force; it’s a cruel capitalist government, which is fully implementing the neo-liberal policies of global capitalism. Moreover, it’s a regime that has been jailing and killing tens of thousands of labour and women’s rights activists, students and socialists and other progressive forces in Iran. Moreover, we have said this repeatedly that the United States government, which in collaboration with corporations and industries has for years stripped workers of so many of their rights and protections, as the most dangerous nuclear and military power and the only government ever used the atomic bomb against people and its invasion of Iraq brought absolute disaster for the Iraqi people, has no credibility whatsoever on any of these issue. A progressive working class stance not only proactively opposes any attempts to pursue war or economic sanctions against Iran, it ought, at the same time, support the workers’ struggles against the repressive government and capitalists in Iran who are forcefully implementing the most aggressive anti-worker and neo-liberal policies in the country’s contemporary history.
What needs to be done for workers rights in Iran?
Just six days before WFTU mission’s arrival in Tehran to visit WH, Mansour Osanloo, the president of the board of directors of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, was kidnapped by plain clothes agents in the evening of Tuesday, July 10, 2007. Later on, he was transferred to the notorious Evin prison and has been kept imprisoned there since then. As you should remember, Osanloo’s tongue was cut by a knife used by the Workers’ House executives when members of Workers’ House and Islamic Labour Council, with the support of security forces and the Vahed Bus Company, violently attacked the meeting of the Bus Workers’ syndicate of Tehran in May 2005. Mahmoud Salehi, a prominent anti-capitalist labour leader in Iran, has been imprisoned in Sandanj’s prison without the right for proper medical treatments. His health since imprisonment has been severely deteriorated and his family and colleagues are extremely worried for his life.
The WFTU calls for the establishing and the free functioning of Trade Union organisations in every country. It is absolutely undeniable that In Iran, in addition to the government, a main barrier for establishing free labour organizations is the Workers’ House and its so called Islamic labour councils.
We are therefore calling on WFTU and its affiliates to immediately stop WFTU’s friendly relationship with Workers’ House of the Islamic Republic of Iran. We are urging the WFTU to engage in a meaningful dialogue with independent labour activists in Iran and pro-actively support the following resolution in support of the Iranian labour movement in any possible ways you can.
Proposed Resolution in Support of workers in Iran
WHEREAS the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), has imposed deplorable political, economic and social conditions on workers and impoverished strata of society;
WHEREAS Iranian workers have consistently witnessed the imposition of anti-labour and neo-liberal policies and practices of government and employers and;
WHEREAS the IRI dismantled independent workers' councils and syndicates, which were set up democratically and freely by workers in various sectors and industries after the 1979 revolution, and identified activists of such organizations, tried them for framed up unfounded charges in sham courts, expelled many from their workplace, and arrested and executed others;
WHEREAS the Iranian government created "Islamic Labour Councils" and “Workers’ House” in order to control workers and suppress independent workers' organizations;
WHEREAS workers in Iran continue to be deprived of the right to organize and strike and frequently face persecution, arrests and imprisonment –the persecution of the activists of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company and imprisonment of Mansour Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi and arrests and prosecution of other labour activists for organizing efforts or May Day activity are just some known examples and;
WHEREAS, the US Administration’s drive to wage war against countries including Iran has been a pretext for massive attacks on labour, civil, immigrant, and human rights;
WHEREAS sanctions and military intervention in Iran will be disastrous, inhuman and totally and unacceptable under any pretext and its main victims will surely be the working people of Iran, ordinary women, men and children.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the WFTU and its affiliates strongly support the rights of Iranian workers to freely set up their independent workers’ organizations and;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the WFTU calls for immediate and unconditional freedom of Mansour Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi and all jailed labour activists;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that WFTU and its affiliates refuse any recognition of the “Islamic Labour councils” and “Workers’ House”, which are set up and backed by the government authorities and employers, in the name of Iranian workers.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that as part of the worldwide struggles against capitalist globalization and neo-liberalism, the WFTU will work with independent labour movement in Iran to strengthen worker-to-worker solidarity;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the WFTU takes a strong and proactive stand against any attempts by the US government and its allies to pursue sanctions and military interventions against Iran.
Thank you for taking these urgent and important issues and concerns into serious consideration. Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.
International Relations- International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran
***Contact Persons:
Mahchid Modjaverian ([email protected])
(CGT Transport)
Farid C. Partovi ([email protected])
(Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 4772)
cc: labour, progressive and anti-capitalist and anti-war organizations in Iran and other countries.
*WFTU Website, Photos: http://www.wftucentral.org/
**Workers’ House- A brief historical background:
Workers’ House (Khaneh Kargar) was founded under the old monarchical regime. In the early 1970s, Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hovayda organized the only legal political party in Iran, called the Rasstakhiz (Resurgence) Party. Connected to this instrument of monarchical dictatorship was the Workers Organization of Iran headed by the chief of SAVAK (the secret police agency) General Parnianfar, Minister of Labour, one senator and two representatives of Majeles (the lower house of the monarchical parliament). After the February 1979 revolution, workers took over the offices of the Workers’ Organization of Iran and renamed it Workers’ House. This was a centre for activities of independent workers shoras (councils) and syndicates (trade unions). In September 1979, after a Friday prayer in Tehran a group of government agents armed with clubs attacked the Workers’ House and took it over from workers. Ali Rabbiei, Assistant Director of the Organization for Information and Security of the Islamic Republic, Hossein Kamali, an engineer and a representative in the Parliament and soon after the minister of labour, Sarhadizadeh, Minister of Labour at the time, and Alireza Mahjoob, member of the pro-capitalist Islamic Republic Party (now the head of Workers’ House and a Member of parliament), formed the central leadership of the “occupied” Workers’ House. They registered the Workers’ House based on a political constitution supporting the pro-capitalist agenda of the Islamic Republic regime….
*** For identification purposes.
For more information, please contact [email protected]
International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI)
http://www.etehadbinalmelali.com/INDEXI.htm
October 14, 2007