To: International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) Copy: Labour organisations worldwide November 4, 2005
Dear ICFTU:
Your annual survey for 2005 on the violation of trade union rights around the world has named Iran as one of the most dangerous countries for labour activists. Your report documents some of the realities of repression and violation of rights for workers in Iran. Even if this only reflects a small fraction of the atrocities being committed against workers in Iran, it is a much-needed contribution and welcome.
You have rightly ranked Iran alongside states such as Belarus, Burma, Cambodia, China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nigeria, the Philippines, Turkey, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. You have reported on the raids on the homes of labour activists and their detention and torture for holding labour rallies. You have mentioned the arrest of labour activists on May Day last year, the harassment of striking textile workers, the brutal attack on the meeting of bus drivers and the killing of four striking workers and wounding of many more…
Let me here also mention two other pieces of news from just over this week:
1- Right now several hundred workers of Kurdistan Textile Company - whose two strikes last year your report also covers - are in their sixth week of a new, bitter strike. Last November and in January this year you wrote protest letters to the government in Iran, condemning the intimidation of workers’ representatives. The workers of this company are demanding, among other things, immediate payment of wage arrears, an end to temporary contracts, reinstatement of sacked workers whose cards have been confiscated, and return to the company’s co-op fund of workers’ savings of up to 18 million Tomans (already deducted from their pay and kept by the management). The management, with the help of the security forces, has put workers under much pressure and is intimidating them in order to break their strike.
On Monday 31 October, Mr Farshid Beheshti Zad, one of the workers’ representatives, was arrested by officials of the Information Ministry and viciously beaten up while in detention. He was released the following day, bloody-faced, after protest by workers who threatened to break off all talks unless he was immediately released. He was again arrested on Wednesday 2 November and this time tortured, which has left him with injury marks on his face and neck. There are reports that other worker reps are also being constantly summoned and harassed.
The workers in this company need your urgent support. They need the support of all trade unions worldwide.
2- Also on 1 November, 400 workers of Alborz Carpet Company in the northern city of Babolsar held a rally and marched in protest at the non-payment of eight months’ wages. The security forces brutally attacked this protest, beating up the workers.
These are just two examples of attacks on workers that happened only this week in Iran.
We are calling for your swift response to these atrocities and specifically for your support to the workers of Kurdistan Textile Company, who have been on strike since 24 September.
While welcoming your report for reflecting some of the atrocities and violation of workers’ rights going on in Iran, we also want to emphasise the need for a powerful campaign of protest against the Islamic Republic of Iran and in support of workers in Iran.
In the report of its Committee on the Application of Standards, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), prompted by complaints submitted by the ICFTU, has mentioned the plight of workers in Iran and specifically the non-payment of wages for up to 24 months.
Based on these reports, we call on the ICFTU and all trade unions internationally to take serious measures to expel the Iranian regime and its representatives - Islamic Labour Councils and the Workers’ House - from the ILO.
We also call for support to the demands of workers in Iran, in particular the right to organise and strike, a minimum wage of 450,000 Tomans (US$550) per month, immediate payment of wage arrears, plus the compensation for late payment, improved workplace health and safety and commissioning of labour inspectors to inspect and report on the situation of workers in Iran.
Towards this end, we are launching an international campaign of labour solidarity with workers in Iran. We look forward to your joining this campaign by supporting the above demands of Iranian workers, organising labour inspection teams to go to Iran and in particular lending your urgent support to the strike by the workers of Kurdistan Textile Company.
In solidarity,
Shahla Daneshfar Co-ordinator, International Labour Solidarity Committee of the Worker-communist Party of Iran
International Labour Solidarity Committee of the Worker-communist Party of Iran Co-ordinator: Shahla Daneshfar (shahla_daneshfar@yahoo.com) Public Relations: Bahram Soroush (b.soroush@ukonline.co.uk) www.wpiran.org |