“Only Five Teachers have so far been released”
“We will not beg for the release of arrested teachers!”
March 18, 2007- Following the collapse of negotiations with government authorities on March 13, 2007, security forces have been arresting large numbers of teachers since last Wednesday. The exact numbers are not confirmed by any government or non-governmental sources. Mr. Pour Vosough, the deputy director of the Teachers’ Trade Association has announced on March 18, 2007 that according to a memorandum by the head of judiciary all arrested teachers should have been freed but so far only five of them have been released and the rest are still in custody. In an interview with the official news agency, ILNA, Pour Vosough added that according to the same information 44 other detained teachers would not be released until after the New Year’s holiday season which takes about two weeks. Most schools in Tehran and other parts of Iran have already been closed for the New Year, which starts on Tuesday, March 20th. Pour Vosough also reported that all members of the board of directors of the Teachers’ Trade Association of Iran (Kanooneh Senfiyeh Moallemaneh Iran) are now incarcerated without being able to contact their families and colleagues and thus there is no information about their conditions. He also added that in Kermanshah, 15 teachers had been arrested but 11 have since been released and the rest are still in prison. He stressed that for the release of teachers they are not going to beg and if the teachers are not freed soon their colleagues might take actions that could be difficult to prevent and the responsibility for all consequences would rest upon those who prevent the release of teachers from incarceration. At the same time various teachers’ groups in North and Northwestern Iran as well as in Kurdistan have been issuing statements condemning arrests and mistreatments of teachers and demanding the release of their colleagues; otherwise they are promising to respond to all this in the New Year.
Background information: Iran, with about 70 million population, has more than 15 million students. There are over 120,000 schools and about one million teachers and education workers employed by the Ministry of Education, which makes it one of the largest ministries in Iran. According to different sources, about 700,000 teachers live below poverty and over 90 percent of retired teachers have been living below the poverty line for long time. The issue of low wages and harmonization of wages or pay parity is one of the main demands of teachers in Iran. Teachers have been protesting low wages and pay arrears for the past several years.
The government authorities had previously arrested teacher activists, including Mr. Mahmoud Beheshti Langroudi in 2004. Teachers had organized a week-long strike in early 2004. In early 2004, during Khatami’s presidency, hundreds of thousands of teachers in Iran went on strike for a week to demand unpaid salaries and equal treatment with other civil servants. Even then, Education Ministry officials had accused and threatened teachers of carrying out "illegal" strikes. Teachers continued their protests numerous times in front of parliament and other public places complaining that the Ministry of Education has been ignoring their demands. They demanded, among others, the implementation of salary scheme for teachers, in line with civil servants, (what is now called pay parity bill); elimination of discrimination in teaching profession and right of free trade associations. Pay Parity bill, which has once been passed in parliament, following delays and various amendments, did not receive the approval of the Guardian Council, which holds veto power over all legislation passed by parliament. The bill was then sent back to parliament for more amendments and changes. It’s about 5 years that teachers have been waiting for the approval and implementation of this bill, which would supposedly guarantee the salary increase for all teachers in line with wages of other public servants. If implemented, it is understood, most teachers would receive considerable wage increase as they are currently extremely underpaid. The latest protests of teachers in March 2007 have been getting much more international attention, thanks to the rising labour movements in Iran and international labour solidarity movements in other countries. The Education International, which represents over 30 million education workers in 169 countries, has been sending a number of protest letters to Ahmadinejad condemning the arrests and persecution of teachers as well as supporting teachers’ demands and the right to organize and protest. Amnesty International has also called on the Iranian authorities to ensure that all teachers detained following teachers’ demonstration in front of parliament on march 14, 2007, are released immediately and unconditionally, including AliAkbar Baghani, Secretary General of the Teacher’s Trade Association; Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroudi, the Association’s spokesperson; and Alireza Hashemi, Secretary General of the Teachers’ Trade Association.
For the second time in one week,
Thousands of teachers protested outside the Iranian Parliament
March 7, 2007- Thousands of teachers protested outside the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) in Tehran on Tuesday, March 6, 2007. This protest was a follow up to their earlier mass rally on Saturday, March 3, 2007. There were also similar protests, in smaller scopes, in other provinces across the country. Teachers, who are very angry with the Minister of Education, were carrying red cards with them demanding the resignation of Minister Farshidi. Teachers are also upset because many of their existing issues and demands date back to several years ago, being totally disregarded by the Ministry of Education. For instance, according to interviews conducted by the official Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) about 98 percent of retired teachers live below poverty line. Most teachers have second or third jobs because they cannot afford the cost of living with their current salaries. Many teachers are paid hourly and are on contracts. One main demand of teachers is the coordination and harmonization of salaries.
After teachers staged a huge demonstration outside the Males last Saturday (between 10 to 15 thousands participated in the rally), there were some gestures by a few Members of Parliament as well as government representatives from the Ministry of Education to meet and negotiate with teachers. However, there have been serious disagreements on the main issues, including the actual rate of salaries currently paid to teachers as the Ministry claims a much higher amount is being paid despite the evidence to the contrary. Moreover, teachers had given the government the names of 10 representatives to negotiate on their behalf but the authorities only accepted 5 delegates thus the last meeting which was scheduled for Monday, March 5th did not take place as the result of the dispute over the Ministry’s refusal to meet with elected representatives of teachers.
Teachers vow that if their demands are not addressed they will shut down schools as of next Saturday. Demonstrators used numerous slogans, including: “schools will be shut own as of tomorrow”, “incompetent Minister, resign, resign”.
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