Workers say setting up independent workers organisations is our right.

Workers’ House is not our representative

Alireza Saghafi Khorassani, worker, labour activist and member of the Writers Association, is one of the authors of a petition published a few days ago.

This statement, which has the support of 4000 workers, demands the right to set up independent workers organisations in Iran. The formation of the committee to follow up the setting up of independent workers organisations is the result of months of effort by workers who see their conditions worsened.

The recognition by the ILO of Khaneh Kargar (Workers’ House) as representative of Iranian workers on the international scene (an organisation that Mr Saghafi calls a government organisation) was the last straw that broke the back of the camel as far as many labour activists in Iran were concerned and this prompted the recent action.

Saghafi who is currently in Bam, busy setting up a cultural house with the help of SIB (committee to support Bam) and active in promoting this statement gave the following interview to Iranian journals/radio stations abroad.

The text of the statement is as follows:

This Petition has already been signed by thousands of Iranian workers. The list is available at www.avayekar.com

To:
 
Iran Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
Labor and Workers Organizations throughout the World
International Labor Organization (ILO)

About half of Iran’s workers, currently work with temporary or even blank contracts, with absolutely no rights. It is widely anticipated that the percentage of workers who work with temporary contracts will reach 90% of the entire workforce over the next few years. Furthermore, the ruling class in Iran, who has already exempted carpet- weavers and workers in workshops of less than 5 and 10 workers from the labor legislation (Article 30 of labor law), now seeks to deprive all workers in temporary contracts from any social security cover.

In such conditions, the ILO has dispatched representatives to Iran, with the aim of supervising an agreement for reforming chapter 6 of the labor legislation (the article dealing with the issue of labor organizations). It must be said that unfortunately this agreement was accomplished without the attendance of a single genuine workers’ representative and confirmed that the appalling conditions of Iranian workers in practice had been approved.
Iranian workers, deprived of independent organizations have constantly witnessed the imposition of anti-labor legislation.  Such laws contrary to the ILO protocols, which do not recognize such agreements without the presence of genuine workers representatives, were signed indeed with no participation from a single genuine worker’s representative.

Therefore, we the undersigned, demand the recognition of our right to create independent labor organizations and request that Iran’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs removes   impediments for creation of such organizations and recognizes the right of independent workers’ representatives to attend all meetings relevant to codification of labor laws, in addition we call on labor and workers organizations throughout the world   to defend our right to protect our rightful claims.
Furthermore we ask our colleagues in these organizations to request that ILO: supervises and recognizes any kind of agreement relevant to labor legislation be subject to attendance of independent workers representatives  (elected from public meetings of workers) and prepares conditions for use of necessary means for supervision of such elections.

Summing up signatures continued… More than 4000… signatures have been obtained so far

Committee to follow up creation of Free Labor Organizations in Iran

Interview

Question- Why did you contribute to writing this statement and why was the ‘follow up committee set up?

Answer- no one doubts that the conditions of Iranian workers are worsening every day and for over 23 years they have not had any independent organizations defending their rights. Existing organizations such as Islamic shoras (Islamic labour councils), Khane Kargar (Workers House), are not genuine workers organizations.

These groups were formed of individuals and workers associated with the government. Three months ago this issue took new dimensions. The International Labour Organization (ILO) attended meetings with Iran’s Ministry of labour, employer’s representatives and accepted Khaneh Kargar as the representative of Iranian workers on the international scene, signing a tripartite agreement with the above.

This was too much for many worker activists. Activists and organizations who since the l980s onwards has worked isolated from each other, saw that working together was the only solution. Some believed Trade unions have to be set up, others were in favour of workers councils, and others wanted syndicates and so on. The result was that the most general and most common demand, i.e. the right to set up independent workers organizations was taken up. Many meetings took place and the name “Committee to follow up creation of Free Labor Organizations in Iran” was formed.

Question- How many people attended these meetings? Could you tell us a bit about these meetings?

Answer- Around 40 people participated in the meetings. So far we have held three meetings. The last one was held last Friday in Teheran, One month and ten days ago we held another meeting in Tehran and the first meeting took place a month before that one. Of course before the general meetings, smaller gatherings of 5 to 10 people were held.

The result of these efforts was the statement you have seen, which was approved by 4000 workers who signed it. The gathering of 4000 signatures was not easy at all. Some workers ere threatened or lost their jobs in this process.

Question- What is the content of the statement and what will you do with it?

Answer- This statement basically puts forward the demand for the establishment of independent workers organisations and it was delivered last Wednesday to the Ministry of Labour.  The text has also been translated to English and will be sent to ILO and other international workers organisations. The Farsi version will be available for the public tomorrow.

Question- Were you obliged to obtain permission for your activities from Political Parties Commission (article 10)?

Answer- According to the rules, no, because we are not a party.   In addition, according to international conventions, trade unions do not need permissions to be established. The truth is in Iran there is no institution responsible for this task. At times they refer you to the ministry of labour at times to the ministry of interior. Of course the same is true for other organisations.

Question- Do people gathered in this collection believe in independence from political parties or organisations irrespective of whether they are in opposition or in support of the government or are the intention independence from political power?

Answer- Our agreement is that the proposed organizations will only have the trade and economic interests of the workers in mind and act with this as a basis. However this doesn’t mean that those within these organizations don’t have political tendencies.  Undoubtedly many of them are close to a variety of political organizations. But what this group has taken up to be its main task, is workers economic interests. The disastrous situation of workers faced with growing unemployment, increasing poverty, child labor … has reached such a stage that all these people with a range of tendencies believe the only way to progress in resolving the basic problems of the workers is to work with each other, based solely on the interests of the workers without bringing up individuals’ political tendencies. In this collection there are syndicalist groups as well as cultural workers organizations, representatives of associations in provinces and … no specific tendency is in charge.

Question- How many formations were involved?

Answers – I will try and name as many as I can remember.  The society for foundation of syndicates (anjoman moassess syndica ha), society in support of workers culture (anjoman hemayat farhangi kargaran- avaye kar), society of workers councils, society of workers’ thought (anjoman andishe karagari), some workers’ unions from the provinces, the society for the protection of children from child labour and the syndicate of Bus workers form Vahed company are amongst the organizations, I can remember. We tried to invite all the independent workers organizations we knew to participate in these meetings and as far as I know they warmly accepted our invitations.

Question- The groups and associations you mentioned are they mainly workers groups or do they also include intellectual groups working with or regarding workers interests?

Answer- All of these are workers groups. Furthermore the 4000 that have signed the petition are all workers. I mean we specified a condition for participation in the meetings and signing the petition. Our condition was that those involved should have a social security booklet. In other words they should legally and officially considered as workers. Now of course amongst these workers there are those who are educated, who read books or write articles, however their earnings come form their labour. Inevitably the most conscious sections of the workers are more aware of social problems and workers rights and are in the forefront of this movement, however in this respect I don’t think we differ from any other country. For example Mr. Babaii is a member of this group. He is a retired worker form the railways and it is over 40 years that he has been writing about workers literature. In other words even the writers in this list are all workers.

Question- You have mentioned the recent agreement with the ILO and the official recognition of Khaneh Kargar as the representative of Iranian workers on the International scene. Can your demand be supported from the point of view of international law?

Answer- Look our demand although a simple demand, is vitally important for workers. We the signatories of the statement say that the setting up of independent workers organizations is our right. The legal basis for this exists in articles 78 and 98 of the ILO. We read these articles in our meetings. According to these conventions workers have the right to set up their trade unions under any circumstances. What we are asking is recognition of a universal right accepted throughout the world. We expect international workers organizations to be with us in this struggle. As long as this right is not respected, the current situation will continue. The average salary in Iran is 1/10 of the recognized average salary in the world. In many provinces, workers accept less than half of the legal minimum wage. In a report I published recently in the journal ‘Naghd-e no’ (New Critique) I have mentioned specific examples of this. Let us not forget hat Iran’s Islamic republic has signed the international conventions on labour.  In practice, we are simply asking for the implementation of this legislation.

Question – Has Iran accepted articles 78 and 98 of the ILO and are these obligatory?

Answer- When the ministry of Labour signs an agreement with ILO, this means Iran has accepted these articles. In their last meeting with Iran’s Ministry of Labour, ILO has emphasized the importance of these articles, which deal with independent workers organizations. We are protesting that genuine representatives of the workers were not present at these meetings.

Question- You claim that Khane Kargar is not the genuine representative of the workers. On what do you base this claim?

Answer- Although I would prefer not to go into the details about this, in general I would say that over the last few years we have witnessed a reduction in workers living standards, increase in legal and illegal pressure on workers, reduction of wages and many similar events. We haven’t seen a single example of a serious effort to protest at this. Would genuine workers representatives act like these gentlemen have acted?

Question- How optimistic are you that these independent workers organizations can be set up soon?

Answer- To be honest, we didn’t expect the kind of support we got for this petition. Workers’ awareness regarding their demands has given us hope. Given the limitations we have in the dissemination of information and other pressures against such a move, obtaining 4000 signatures in a very short time is quite an achievement. The announcements of support and the signing of the petition continue. We have received many messages of support from other provinces and cities. The teachers have verbally supported our action . . . In this way we are hopeful and our hopes have solid material bases.

Mr. Saghafi thank you

Phone interview with Mr. *Saghafi from Tehran.

Translated and re-distributed by

International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI)

[email protected]

* Ali Reza Saghafi was also one of the labour activists and speakers who had attended a labour conference entitled “The Iranian Labour Movement, Barriers and Perspectives” in June 2002 in Toronto, which was sponsored by the Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Canadian Auto Workers and Canadian Postal Workers.