Worker-communist Party of
Iran -
Organisation Abroad
At 1:00 pm today, Wednesday, the workers of Kurdistan Textile Company in the city of Sanandaj ended their five-day strike and sit-in following increased pressures and bullying by the Islamic Republic’s security forces, according to news from the Kurdistan Organisation of the Worker-communist Party of Iran (WPI).
The factory, where initially 76 workers had begun a
sit-in against planned redundancies, was put under military siege from the
second day of the strike, while hundreds more workers from all sections of the
plant joined the sit-in.
The decision to suspend the action came as the risk
of violence against the strikers by armed police mounted.
Following talks, which took place in the presence of
the head of the security forces – a Sergeant Doosty - in a climate of
intimidation, the management refused to take back the threat of redundancies,
but offered a higher redundancy pay and a number of fringe benefits. At one point in the meeting, Doosty angrily
waved a WPI leaflet, shouting at the workers’ representatives and making
threats.
On Tuesday the Labour Ministry had expressly called
on Kurdistan’s Governor, the army and the plant’s management to put down the
Sanandaj ‘rebellion’.
The five-day strike and sit-in mobilised huge sections of the population in Sanandaj, Saghez and other cities in support of the strikers. Large numbers of workers from various industries, including textiles, aluminium, dairies, bakeries and plastics, as well as university students, came out in support of the workers.
The city of Sanandaj is still tense, and supportive of the workers, following the strike, according to WPI-Kurdistan Organisation reports. Despite forcing a retreat on the management on the issue of redundancy pay, the workers remain bitterly opposed to the company’s redundancy threats.
ENDS.
For editors:
1-
Open
letter to Mr Guy Ryder, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
(ICFTU), 2/11/04
2-
Open
letter to international trade unions and labour organisations, 2/11/04