Iranian Workers Under Siege Speech by Mehdi Kouhestani-nejad to CUPE conference April 2002 While Iran has developed into a capitalist society over the past few decades, the basic ingredients of industrialization, the welfare state and the safety net have never materialized. More than 60 per cent of the Iranian population lives in urban areas but despite extensive natural resources and considerable wealth, almost seventy per cent of the people live under the poverty line. There are a number of issues currently facing Iranian workers, and outlined below is a strategy of solidarity for assisting them in their struggle. After the 1979 revolution that ended the Shah’s regime, the new state that initially claimed to be in support of the “have nots” turned out to be the most oppressive, pro-capitalist, and anti-worker regime that Iranians could have ever imagined. The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) established itself in the early 1980s through massive oppression, imprisonment and the execution of opposition groups and thousands of labour and socialist activists were killed or put behind bars. The IRI economic policies have also had a devastating impact on the living conditions of working people in Iran today. Unemployment is a national disaster in today’s Iran. According to the government’s statistics there are currently 4 million unemployed workers in Iran in a workforce of approximately 15 million. This does not include an incalculable number of discouraged workers. While fifty per cent of Iran’s population is now under 20 years of age, sixty per cent of the unemployed actively looking for jobs are youth, 15 to 24 years old. Every year about 800,000 people enter the labour market but not even 20 per cent of this demand is being created in terms of jobs. Women account for more than 50 per cent of Iran’s population but less than 10 per cent of the active labour market. This is due to an extreme form of gender inequality and oppression under the Iranian regime’s practices.   The government does not even pretend to have a strategy to address unemployment. A majority of the unemployed are not receiving any Unemployment Insurance benefits or social assistance. Social Security programs have been more of a scam rather than meaningful plans to safeguard people in hard times. Workers have constantly been fighting the Social Security Organization, to address these issues, challenging their lack of responsiveness and accountability in this regard. What is contributing to the creation of such widespread poverty? Primarily, twenty-two years of corruption and the unequal distribution of power, resources and wealth. The Iranian economy is virtually ruled by a bunch of vultures that function more as a commercial mafia. This new economic elite has used its privileges and the backing of the regime during the past 20 years to become some of the richest men in Iran. A second factor is the total bankruptcy of the economic system in Iran. Hundreds of factories and manufacturing operations have been shut down resulting in the massive lay-offs of workers in different industries. In addition, thousands of Iranian workers have not been paid their wages for months. According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), at least 400,000 workers from some 500 companies are now suffering from wage arrears stretching back between 3 to 24 months. This has caused enormous poverty and homelessness for a large section of the population. High inflation exists — up to 300 per cent and the excessive devaluation of the Rial, Iran’s currency, has resulted in the continuous fall in real wages. At the same time the high cost of living—particularly for housing, food, transportation and health care— takes up any wages workers receive.A low minimum wage is another factor. The national minimum wage is calculated based on an eight-hour working day and has been determined to be 18,930 Rials (which is less than four Canadian dollars). This is almost 300 per cent below the minimum cost of living.  Another significant factor involves the state’s priorities. Since the revolution, the IRI has spent billions of dollars to feed their “revolutionary guards”. Numerous government-sponsored foundations receive billions of dollars and these foundations are not accountable to the public in any way, including through the parliament. These foundations are only obliged to report directly to the regime’s supreme leader or to his representatives. A multi-layered bureaucracy manages the public resources and nationalized industries such as oil, gas, mines, healthcare and social security systems. These “managers of the economy” have created an unproductive system by moving profits from industrial production to the financial sector, and not investing in expansion and modernization and as a result most factories are left with aging and outdated machinery and equipment. The main strategy to increase productivity has been to target the workforce through mass lay offs and work intensification.  In addition to this, the Islamic Consultative Assembly (or “Iranian Parliament”) passed a legislation in February 2000 that exempted workshops with a workforce of five or less from provisions stipulated in the already-weak labour law. This exemption affects approximately three million workers and with the vast implementation of temporary contract work in recent years, workers in the majority of industries in Iran have lost their job security. The labour law of the Islamic Republic of Iran already deprives the Iranian working class of many internationally recognized workers’ rights and freedoms. The IRI does not recognize the right to organize free and independent workers’ organizations, the right to strike, full and direct participation of workers in pay negotiations, unemployment insurance, maternity or parental leave, work time reduction and job security. The regime’s labour law does not even take into consideration the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) strategies on socio-economic security and its seven dimensions of work-based security, which include income security; employment security, job security, work (occupational health and safety) security; skill development security and voice representation security. Moreover the IRI discriminates against women workers, immigrant workers (more than two million immigrants from Afghanistan are not covered by any labour law or income security programs), allows mandatory over-time, and facilitates favorable conditions for workers’ expulsion and lay-offs. The Islamic Consultative Assembly tried four times to pass its labour law since the seizure of state power in 1979, but each time it was faced with workers’ protests. As a result, the IRI ruled the country without any labour law for 12 years. Throughout the whole process, and even after its approval, the current labour law received strong condemnation by both Iranian workers and labour bodies all over the world due to its anti-worker and anti-women rules and regulations. The labour law signaled the IRI’s commitment to private capital and the Iranian state’s commitment to create a population of cheap and voiceless labour with no rights to freely strike or organize.  This latest anti-worker legislation confirmed efforts by national and multi-national corporations, employers, and the Iranian government to create even more favorable conditions for capital investment and profit within the Iranian context. As part and parcel of the current global attack on workers’ rights and working and living conditions the IRI’s policies are completely in line with those prescribed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The goal of both the so-called “reformist” movement within the government and the supporters of President Khatami is to “normalize” the regime into a conventional capitalist state in line with free market policies and practices. This is epitomized by efforts of state officials to have Iran become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and to implement widespread economic adjustment policies including privatization, labour law changes and economic restructuring. Public employees, including employees of municipalities, transit and transportation workers, teachers, personnel in government departments, are among those who are at greatest risk. The deregulation, outsourcing and downsizing of public services has all contributed to generate a great sense of insecurity among public sector employees. As the state is the largest employer this makes this activity much more alarming. Even though the Islamic Consultative Assembly passed a law that prohibits strikes by government workers in 1993, public sector workers have continually defied this law. In January 2002 alone, there were a number of huge protests, including tens of thousands of teachers fighting low wages and a lack of housing and benefits. In order to appreciate the dynamism of workers’ struggles and the fight back in Iran, it is important to recognize that Iranian workers do not have their own independent organizations or unions. The IRI does not recognize Convention 87, ratified in 1948 by the ILO Conference, where affirms the right to form free and independent labour organizations. The regime also does not yet recognize Convention 98 where the right to collective bargaining and strike is guaranteed for workers. While there is a growing movement by Iranian workers to establish free and independent workers’ organizations, numerous obstacles have blocked any meaningful progress in this struggle. The IRI has continued to deny the right to organize and strike and has used violent responses by the state’s security forces to smash and disrupt workers’ protests. The regime has also utilized the government-sponsored “Workers’ House” to control and restrain workers’ activities and organization. The new regime crushed all genuine workers’ organizations during the first few years of the 1979 revolution and then established the “Workers’ House” as the main “labour body of the Islamic Republic. It has acted as a tool of the regime to silence and restrict workers’ demands and protests. Despite these repressive and unfavorable conditions, workers are mobilizing to stand up for their rights and freedoms. Direct and independent actions such as sit-ins, strikes, demonstrations and blockage of roads have been some of the tactics used by workers in their recent struggles. The escalating protests, strike actions and militant demonstrations in different industries are becoming an everyday reality in Iran. Workers’ struggles to organize freely without any state interference is a serious challenge for the regime and will continue to be a key component of the class struggle in Iran. Activists and the trade union movement in Canada need a strategy and a campaign to provide solidarity with Iranian workers. We need an effective campaign to address immediate issues but also as part of the pre-condition for social, economic and political justice in Iran and the Middle East. Iranian workers are faced with immediate issues such as the non-payment of wages, lay-offs, privatization, labour law changes, security force intervention, unemployment and poverty. Most of these issues are very familiar to Canadian workers. The government of Iran must be put under continuous pressure due to its repressive anti-worker policies and practices. We need to ensure that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s sponsored groups such “ Workers’ House” are not allowed to attend any meetings and conferences of national or international labour organizations. We can also assist labour activists in Iran by providing a broad mix of support such as assisting the development of labour education in Iran, the sending of delegations/observers to Iran, and the organizing of information sessions at Canadian labour conferences of the situation in Iran. Finally, it is imperative to dispatch an international delegation to Iran composed of representatives from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and other appropriate Canadian organizations to monitor government and employers’ policies and practices along with the situation of workers in Iran, and to report their outcome to the ICFTU and ILO for required actions. While ultimately only the workers of Iran can achieve justice for themselves, they require international community assistance and solidarity.  We need to work with Iranian labour activists, both within Iran and in exile, towards the realization of many pressing demands, including the following: ·        the immediate payment of all unpaid and delayed wages; ·        a recognition of the right to organize free and independent workers’ organizations and the right to strike; ·        the release of detained and jailed workers; ·        the immediate removal of security and armed forces from workplaces as well as an end to the violent treatment of workers in labour disputes; ·        the immediate withdrawal of the new anti-worker bill that exempts workshops with five or less employees from labour legislation; ·        ending any form of systematic violation of freedom of expression and other internationally recognized human rights and freedoms for all people in Iran; ·        putting an end to any form of discrimination against immigrant workers (who are predominantly from Afghanistan and Iraq); ·        an immediate end to all kinds of gender apartheid rules and systematic discriminations against women in the workplace, in employment, laws and in society at large; ·        wage increases according to the actual rate of inflation; ·        the establishment, implementation and enforcement of sufficient unemployment insurance benefits, pension benefits and other essential income security programs for all workers (employed, unemployed, immigrants, injured, disabled and retired).