President Mohammad Khatami

The Presidency

Palestine Avenue

Azerbaijan Intersection

Tehran, Iran

Dear President Khatami:

On behalf of the 50,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), I am writing to express my Union’s unconditional support for the textile workers in Sanandaj, who have been forced to go on strike for the third time in recent months, and anger with the actions of management and your government in the attempt to break the strike and fire all the workers.

When these workers staged a sit-in on October 31, 2004, to protest mass redundancy plans by management, your government security forces placed the factory under siege. Despite this attack on the right of workers to assemble, strike and collectively bargain, negotiations were held and a settlement reached. However, as soon as the strike ended, management reneged on its promises. Now, having been forced to strike once again, these workers have been threatened with mass terminations.

Mr. President, it is important for your regime to know that workers around the world are aware of this struggle. Your government’s anti-labour policies and the open intimidation of workers in Sanandaj and elsewhere in Iran must cease.

CUPW joins the many voices demanding that the Islamic regime publicly accept the right of all Iranian workers to organize, bargain collectively and strike. Nothing less is acceptable.

Sincerely,

Deborah Bourque,

National President.

c.c.: National Executive Committee

National Union Representatives

Specialists

DB/jh

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