Ken Georgity
President
Canadian Labour Congress
2841 Riverside Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1V 8X7

Dear Brother Ken,

A while ago, Brother Mehdi Kouhestaninejad, President of CUPE Local 3261, and other local labour leaders from various unions wrote to a number of heads of unions urging that action be taken at the ILO and ICFTU to support the rights and struggles of workers in Iran.
I am writing to give my support to the concerns raised in their correspondence and to add my  name to those who would like to see the CLC and the ICFTU support a complaint to the ILO  with respect to the many violations of various conventions by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
As well, I think the situation of workers in Iran is one that needs much greater attention by Canadian unions and hope that the CLC and affiliates might discuss ways in which we can take up the issue through our international solidarity work.

In solidarity,

Judy Darcy
National President
Canadian Union of Public Employees
c.c. Jean-Claude Parrot, Mehdi Kouhestaninejad, CUPE Local 3261, Khalil       Vermezyari (CUPE Local 2497 Vice-president)
*************************
July 29, 2001

Dear Sister Judy,

I have received your letter dated July 17, 2001 to Brother Ken Georgetti,
the president of CLC, in support of the rights and struggles of workers in
Iran and urging them to take action at the ILO and the ICFTU. In their
recent convention in June 2001, ILO has condemned the Iranian government's policies with regards to the workers rights in Iran. Although, condemnation is a step forward in bringing awareness and attention to this situation, but I think more serious actions are necessary to enforce these demands. In more recent years, we have witnessed the strategies of the World Bank and IMF with regards to the establishment of global corporations in Iran. Their policies have helped the Iranian state to repress any protests by the workers who are denied of their basic rights and privileges to form any
organized movement or union.

This support will be of great importance to Iranian workers knowing that
their Canadian counterparts on the other side of the world are aware of
their situation and are willing to take actions against it. I hope we can
pass a resolution in support of the Iranian workers in our convention in
November at Vancouver.


In Solidarity,

Mehdi Kouhestani-nejad
President, CUPE Local 3261

c.c. Jean-Claude Parrot, Ken Georgetti

click here to see the proposed resolution