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Source: Iranian Labor

July 27, 2010

On July 24, about 350 Farnakh Textile Workers staged a protest gathering across the factory gates in the Qazvin industrial city of Alborz. The workers were protesting not having received five months of back wages and two months of bonuses and benefits for the Iranian new year starting in March. A protesting worker has told the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) that “our gatherings are always suppressed under the pretext of being rebellious and subversive. We, however, are not asking for anything further than our rights and dues.”

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Source: Iranian Labor

July 26, 2010

Rampant Wage Thefts are not a new phenomena in Iran. The list of production facilities where workers have not received their wages in months goes on and on.

Naghshe Iran Carpet Weaving workers in Qazvin are reported to not have received wages and benefits for the past 18 months.

Khuzestan Pipe Factory workers have not received wages for 15 months. According to 600 workers at the factory, there are no production and sales problems at the plant but instability of the management and the ownership has caused difficulties and uncertainties.

Iran Telecommunication Industries workers have not received any wages for the last four months. There are 700 workers at ITI which is facing various difficulties since privatizations of early 2000’s. The workers received about 300 US dollars each for the 14 months of their past wages dues about four months ago.

Shargh newspaper employees are reported to not have received wages for the past two months.

BRT rapid city transit workers in Tehran complain of not receiving wages in three months.

Talia mobile telephone company workers say that they have only received one month wages.

And the list goes on and on.

While many facilities are denying workers wages for months, in some cases, the delays now are in years, Khuzestan Pipe being one such case. Ali, a worker at Khuzestan Pipe factory, has given an interview with Radio Farda, Radio Liberty, the text of which is translated by Iran Labor Report as follows:

On the reasons of wages denied,

Ali: We do not know ourselves, but they said that they would investigate and they told us that the company is on the verge of becoming public in two months. Two months have passed and now they tell us that they are after investors and it is on going. They constantly tell us today, this week, next week, we are holding meetings, we are looking into the accounts.

Radio Farda: What effects have this situation had on the workers lives, in other words, how do the 600 workers live without having received wages in 15 months?

Ali: It has affected us tremendously. But what are we to do? On the other hand, until recently they even refused to renew our medical registration cards and they were forced to renew them following workers protests and pressures.

Radio Farda: How do you make the ends meet in this situation?

Ali: Life has gotten extremely difficult for us even surviving on bread and cheese which Islamic Republic considers simple subsistence.

Radio Farda: Where do you think the main reasons lie?

Ali: The problems lie with the government, because ordinary people do not do such things. It all stems from the government.

When Ahmadinejad came to Khuzistan, we pressed our issues twice with him. Once, we wrote them on banners and took them to the arena where he was making his speech. He told us they will solve our problems. The second time when he came to town, we confronted him and he again said that he will solve our problems and he did not do anything for us.

Radio Farda: When you protested and Mr. Ahmadinejad said that he will look into the problem, did any government agencies contact the workers to resolve their issues?

Ali: No, no contacts were made. Even a government panel which is said to have come from Ahmadinejad claims that they have heard that the workers have received their wages but they are provocateurs and are protesting by the governors’ mansion for no reason. We told them why don’t you come to the company and talk with the workers? You are sitting in your offices and tell us that we have received our wages but we are rebels.

It is now 16 months that we have not received wages. Who should we tell this? The state and governor officials do not even let us in their offices. The city Friday Imam says there is nothing he can do and gives us a proverb that there is the fruit on the tree and mine is a short hand to pick it.

We have told the governor, the city and other officials about our problem and sent delegations there. We pressed the issue through our emissaries, we talked with the security forces generals to no avail.

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Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
July 22, 2010

Said Torabian (file photo)

A spokesman for Tehran’s municipal bus-service union has been released from prison on bail, RFE/RL’s Radio Farda reports.

Said Torabian, who had been held at Rajaee Shahr prison in Karaj, west of Tehran, was released on July 20. He was detained by authorities on June 9.

His release comes days after the Tehran bus drivers’ union issued a statement calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Torabian and three other bus drivers’ union leaders: Reza Shahabi, Ebrahim Madadi, and Mansur Osanlu.

A statement issued by the Union of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company on July 17 expressed particular concern about the health of Torabian. It said the union spokesman, who suffers from a heart condition, had not been able to contact his family since his arrest.

The statement states that labor activists have come under increasing pressure in recent months.

“Since the opening of the union five years ago, its members and their families have faced severe pressure, including arrests, threats, dismissal from work, and deprivation of their social and medical rights,” it reads.

Bus drivers’ union leader Mansur Osanlu is serving a five-year prison term after being arrested in July 2007.

According to the union, the Iranian government had pledged at a recent International Labor Organization conference to release Osanlu. But he is now being charged with more crimes.

On July 18, an Iranian revolutionary court in Karaj charged Osanlu with “spreading propaganda against the regime.” It is the same charge brought against him in 2007.

The statement said that the municipal bus drivers’ union will continue to fight for workers’ rights despite ongoing government pressure. The union appealed for further support from human rights groups and labor unions, especially the International Transport Workers’ Federation.

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Mr. Seddigh Karimi and Mr. Fouad Kei-khosrohi, members of the Board of Directors of the Free Workers Union of Iran, hve been summoned to the First Branch of the Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj.  Based on this summonds, both of them will appear at court today, Tuesday, July 20, 2010 (29 Tir 1389).  These two gentlemen were first arrested and questioned on May 1, 2010 and charged with attempting to celebrate International Worker’s Day (May Day.)  At the court hearing, they were then charged with acting against State security and being a member of the Free Workers Union of Iran.  They are to be tried for these alleged crimes this morning.

We recognize the right to organize and become a member of workers’ organizations as an absolute and inviolable right of the Iranian working class.  We strongly condemn the trials of Mr. Karimi and Kei-Khosrohi for the crime of belonging to the Free Workers Union of Iran.  We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Saeed Torabian, Reza Shahabi, Behnam Ebrahimzade, Ebrahim Madadi, Mansou Osanloo, Mehdi Farahi Shandiz, and all other persons seeking their legitimate and freedom-loving rights.  We ask all of the labor organizations and groups in Iran and throughout the world to stand unified and demand the immediate and unconditional release from prison of workers and humans demanding their rights, and to end the relentless judicial pursuit of labor leaders and labor activists.

(According to a conversation with Mr. Reza Rakhshan, head of the  Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Workers Union on Monday, July 19, 2010, the security services of Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Industries has demanded that labor activist Mr. Fereydoun Nikoofar vacate his company-provided housing.  They also threatened other workers who lended their financial support to other dismissed Haft Tapeh workers.  They told Mr. Nikoofar that if he does not vacate company housing they will evict him, place all his belongings in the street, and give him extremely harsh treatment.  Mr. Nikoofar, who is a veteran of the Iran Iraq war, was sentenced to one year of prison, six months of which was served and six months of which was suspended.  He was fired after serving his sentence.  This morning Mr. Nikoofar was summoned to the security section of Haft Tapeh and they demanded that in order to get his job back, that he write a contrite announcement refuting all of his previous actions.  The workers who were fired from Haft Tapeh are under extreme financial pressure and if they do make such announcements of repentance, it is because of pressure, not because of  regret for their past actions. The workers hope to issue a letter illustrating the illegal pressure placed upon them, affirming that trade union membership is their irrefutable right, and demanding that they return to their jobs.

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Source: Iranian Labor
July 19, 2010

On July 18, the Iranian parliament was a scene of different workers protests. The first protest was by several hundred retired workers and pensioners who gathered by the parliamentary buildings in central Tehran to protest the recent measures taken by the ministry of welfare and social security officials. The ministry executives have introduced new rules requiring payment of deductibles by retirees and pensioners in their visits to the health clinics covered by the social security administration. The protesting retirees were also complaining about the required pension increases not being in acted in the new Iranian new year as called by law. The pensioners are to receive a ten percent increase in their pensions.. The protests have coincided with the social security week being held in Iran. Alireza Mahjoub, the deputy from Tehran and the Workers House representative in the parliament, met with the protesters for few moments.

In a separate action on the same day, several hundred employees of the Cultural Heritage Organization protested the recent directives requiring them to leave the capital Tehran. The directive is along the recent moves by the Ahmadinejad administration to reduce the population at the capital calling for transfer of the government administrative apparatus outside the capital city. The first of the government employees to receive notices are the 700 employees of the Cultural Heritage Organization who have been asked to vacate the capital city. Many who have refused have been terminated from their jobs.

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July 18, 2010

The largest automotive company in the Middle East, Iran Khodro has had to cut back shifts due to a shortage of electricity. Iran Khodro management announced to its employees that the evening and night shifts are being eliminated until further notice.

In order to conserve energy the assembly line and administrative office hours will end at 4 p.m. during week days.

Also these days in other industrial outlets, the repeated power outage is creating problems. Manufacturing lines and shops are suffering serious losses.

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Source: Iranian Labor

July 15, 2010

According to the reports by the Kermanshah Association of Electrical and Metal Workers, about 100 workers of Parhoon Design Construction Company have gone on strike in Sanandaj demanding their four months back wages. Parhoon Design is one of the main contractors on the Sanandaj gas power plant construction project in the Sanandaj Kurdish region. The workers went on strike at 8:00 a.m. on July 12 demanding their back wages. The management was forced to meet with the workers in the afternoon of that day to discuss their grievances.

Earlier in January of this year, about 180 residents of the city of Sanandaj and neigbouring villages had complained to the power plant authorities on Mapna and Parhoon Design, the main two contractors, for not hiring amongst the local population for the project.

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Source: International Transport Workers’ Federation

15 July 2010

The ITF has invited imprisoned Iranian bus workers’ leader Mansour Osanloo to the federation’s congress in Mexico, in the wake of a statement by the Iranian government that he would be released.

ITF general secretary David Cockroft last week sent Osanloo the special invitation to attend the congress in Mexico City from 5-12 August; it was addressed to Rajaie-Shahr prison in Karaj, where Osanloo is currently being held for his trade union activities.

In the letter Cockroft states: “We are aware that the Iranian government recently communicated to the International Labour Organization its intention to release you from prison in the near future. We cannot be sure that they will keep their word, in the light of previous experiences, but if there is any possibility that you will be free and able to travel internationally, I know that the entire ITF family will be ready to give you a very warm welcome in Mexico City.”

He continued: “So although the syndicate, as an ITF affiliate, will already have received a formal invitation to attend the congress, I would like to extend to you my personal invitation to participate in our 42nd congress as an honoured guest.”

The ITF and the global trade union movement have long been campaigning for the release of Osanloo and of all other trade unionists detained by the Iranian authorities; several unions, including the UK union Unite, have given Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi, the union’s vice-president, honorary membership.

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Source: Human Rights House of Iran (RAHANA)
July 10, 2010
Mahmoud Bagheri, the member of board of directors of Teachers Trade Union of Iran, was arrested by security guards on June 29, 2010 after being summoned to the Zone 4 preservation in the Ministry of Education.

According to Bamdad News, the wife and family of Mahmoud Bagheri, an experienced physics teacher in Tehran zone 4 of education ministry, have been unable to find any information on the status or place of his detention.

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Source: Iranian Labor

July 8, 2010

Alborz China Manufacturing Company workers in the city of Qazvin, numbering more than 180, staged a protest gathering in front of the factory gates on July 6. The workers have been paid only twice in the last twelve months for 1000 US dollars each time, making them owing more than six months of past due wages. All workers have worked at the factory for more than 19 years and the company has been recently resolved. The workers had staged several protest gatherings before including one in the last May Day demanding their due wages.