Speech by Syd Ryan, President, CUPE-Ontario Division in the IASWI's seminar, “The Iranian Labour Movement: Barriers and Perspectives”, June 2002, Toronto Metro Hall Well, good morning sisters and brothers and distinguished guests.   I am honoured to be able to stand before you this morning to talk a bit about our union and how we might be able to assist you in your work.   However, before I get to that, let me just say that if I appear less than articulate this morning it’s because I was up until 4:00am watching Ireland play Cameroon—are there any Cameroon supporters here? [Laughter].  Let me also apologize for Ireland’s win over Iran on the way to the World Cup, so sorry about that. [Laughter]  Might I also ask, are there any French supporters here—if so, my condolences to you, that was really quite an upset?  In any event, what I want to talk about first relates to our convention last week in Windsor, Ontario.  As many of you know the Iranian Trade Delegation addressed our membership during convention.  I don’t think I need to tell you, sisters and brothers, that there is a lot of work to be done in terms of getting your message out, to our membership, to the labour movement in general and to the public at large.  Because I think we all know that there is a great deal of misconception and false information circulating with respect to Iran, both in terms of the people of Iran and the Iranian labour movement.   So, I think you have a job to do, with our assistance, to get your message out.  But before I get to that, let me just say that Parviz Babaei did an absolutely tremendous job in Windsor last week to get your message out, winning over almost a thousand delegates to our convention with a tremendous speech that was from the heart.  In talking about the plight of Iranian workers he not only managed to tie it into world affairs and globalization, but, he also managed to bring it back home to CUPE’s public sector workers.  That was a tremendous service he did, not just for the labour movement in Iran, but for the labour movement in Canada as well.  More and more we need to get that kind of message out.  And let me tell you, it went over exceptionally well—those of you who were at the convention saw it—a standing ovation.  You know, it was not so long ago that international delegations were not terribly well accepted by labour, not only within the broader context, but within CUPE as well.  So it was tremendous to see Parviz stand at the podium and get a standing ovation when he talked about the plight of Iranian workers.  I think that was the beginning—the lights went on for me at least—that was the beginning of my understanding as to how narrow our focus has been—and I asked myself, how  can we best incorporate into our convention and our union the domestic affairs of others, and  how do we get that message out to the broader labour movement.  To that end I’ve got some ideas, that I want to talk about with you.  In the first instance I believe we have to find a way to get ordinary Canadians to identify with the plight of ordinary Iranians.  For example, when George Bush talks about a bombing campaign against Iran, we have to be able to identify for our members what this means in real terms, for workers, for workers’ rights, for women and for children.  In other words we have to be able to show them the human dimension.  To date we haven’t done that very well.  I think that it is important that you begin to get this kind of message out and it’s here that I believe we can help.  For example, we know that you have lived under a regime where workers’ rights have been denied for the last 20 -22 years.  Currently you don’t have the right to organize, the right to safe work places or the right to strike.  Additionally, discrimination against women in the workplace is rampant.  In essence you’ve been working for over 22 years now with no basic labour legislation and that message needs to get out.  People like myself and Hassan can help, but we need to use our collective brainpower in deciding how best to do that.  Forums  are good, but we need the media to be present.  So I ask, where is the media today?  We need the mainstream media at these events so they can hear the message and see us standing in solidarity side-by-side with the Iranian labour movement.  This is a development that hasn’t taken place in Canada for many, many years.  I’ll give you another example of what I am talking about in terms of how we need to get your message out.   About 4 years ago we had a massive demonstration here in Toronto against  the Harris government.  We understand, by the way, what happens when governments start to erode workers’ rights.  We’ve experienced it first hand here in this great province of ours, where we’ve had the government rescind some very basic labour legislation pertaining to hours of work, resulting in an extension of the work day from 8 hours to 12 hours for people who don’t belong to a trade union.  We’ve also seen this government step up its attack on welfare recipients, in particular women.  In any event, we had this demonstration against the Harris government—200,000 people marching in the streets, over 200 coalition partners marching with labour.  We marched past the Metro Convention Centre where the Premier was staying, it took us 2 hours to march past one single point.  Of course the Premier watched it all from an upstairs window.  Do you know what he said when the demonstration was over?  Do you know the one group that he singled out, in an effort to denigrate us and to try and undermine the democratic process that was clearly at work?  He focused his attention on the one flag he saw advocating on behalf of the Communist Party of Iran.  It was his intent to play into anti-Iranian and anti-Middle Eastern sentiment as a way to dismiss the entire day.  But he didn’t get away with it, because the Iranian community in Toronto organized en masse and forced the Premier of the Province to apologize to them.  I believe this example underscores the problem we are all facing.  When the Premier of the largest province in Canada believes that he can get away with insulting the entire Iranian community while at the same time dismissing the over 200,000 strong protesters in the streets that day, based upon one flag that he saw, tells me  we have a lot of work to do.  But at the same time the way the Iranian community organized itself around this issue was remarkable.  And we need to be doing more of this.  As I indicated earlier, the challenge before us is to find a way to get your message out to the broader labour movement and to the public at large.  One way this can be accomplished is by mobilizing local communities around a certain set of issues.  Certainly within CUPE we can begin circulating to our members information pertaining to the plight of Iranian workers while at the same time demonstrating to them how all the issues link up.  But, you’ve also got to outreach to the larger unions, such as the CAW (Canadian Auto Workers) and the UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers) in an effort to have them understand and identify with your issues.  Let me give you one last example of where you might be effective in terms of outreach and education.   Right now in Iran your unemployment rate stands at 27%--that’s twice as high as the poorest province here in Canada, Newfoundland.  And I can tell you the unemployment rate in Newfoundland horrifies people, especially the high rate of unemployment and underemployment among women.  As I understand it, in Iran, while women make up half or close to half the population, they make up only 10% of the workforce.  You need to get women in Canada and the United States and across the world for that matter talking about what’s happening to women in Iran.  When the United States, under George Bush launched their attack on Afghanistan, they couched it in terms of women’s emancipation.  They said they were moving against Afghanistan, at least in part, in an effort to liberate women.  Might I suggest you focus on the situation faced by women in Iran as a way to highlight the plight of all Iranian workers.  By securing basic workplace rights for women, such as the right to work, the right to job security and the right to maternity benefits you could also work to improve the situation for all Iranian workers.  Because you know, Iranian women are not the only women suffering in this way.  All around the world women are faced with many of these same issues.  While here in Canada women workers have many more rights than they once did, I can tell you that the fight to end discrimination against women in all its many forms is far from over. And it is in this area, I believe you could be most effective in terms of bringing the public on board.  In closing let me say to members of the Iranian delegation that I admire your fortitude in coming here and alerting us to your situation.  You did so at great risk.  For I know that as you head back to your country, quite possibly some, or all of you may be arrested.   As a trade union leader living in a country where we have freedom of expression and freedom of democracy, notwithstanding attempts by our government to erode these rights, it is very easy for me to be outspoken.  Hence I admire and acknowledge the courage it took for you to come here and to bring us your message.  I know that Brother Parviz Babaei has spent some time in prison already.  That to me, sisters and brothers, is someone who really knows the meaning of trade unionism, who really knows the meaning of standing by your principles.  When you give up your own freedom, your own liberty to stand behind a principle, to stand behind a cause, that is truly inspiring.  We should all stand and applaud Brother Parviz Babaei.  Thank you so much for providing that kind of leadership to me as a trade unionist.  Thank you for providing me that kind of guiding light.  Because if you can do it, then by God in this country we can do it as well.  Thank you very much sisters and brothers.