http://iranlaborreport.com/?p=2245
May Day 2013 Celebration in Iran Featured <http://iranlaborreport.com/?cat=7> / recent updates<http://iranlaborreport.com/?cat=1> May 4, 20130 <http://iranlaborreport.com/?p=2245#comments> Workers in Iran have been barred from holding street rallies in celebration of the workers day since 2007. Aside from the official ceremonies organized by state sanctioned workers organizations, several independent labor organizations celebrated the event under heavy security atmosphere. This year, similar to the recent past years, an official ceremony<http://iranlaborreport.com/?p=2235> was held in a local stadium in Tehran, this year Shahid Motamedi stadium. Official ceremonies attended by 4000 included speeches by Workers House officials. <http://iranlaborreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/majles-4.jpg>The coordinators of the thirty thousand workers signature petition organized a gathering by the Iranian parliament. The gathering was participated by the coordinators as well as a number of workers active in the petition drive. The demonstrators held banners highlighting the differences between the ratified 487 thousand tomans minimum wage and the poverty line of one million and five hundred thousand tomans. <http://iranlaborreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/1-may-vahed-1.jpg>Vahed Bus Workers Syndicate activists celebrated the workers day with early morning gathering by the bus terminals, distributing pastries and pens with inscriptions of May Day greetings. The union activists drove to Azadi square next, holding banners and took group pictures. The activists finally went to visit with child laborers at an association helping the street children and laborers. <http://iranlaborreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/sanandaj.jpg>May day celebrations were held in the Kurdish city of Sanandaj with about 300 participants. A rally was organized by activists with Coordinating Committee to Help Organize Workers Organizations, Free Union of Iranian Workers and other labor activists in the city. The marchers started from Ghafour neighborhood to the Azadi square. The marchers were faced with special guard unity and security forces. They, however, were able to march to Fajr, Hasan Abad and Ghaem magham Farahani streets in the city. Reports indicate around 16 arrests during the assault. <http://iranlaborreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/naghadeh.jpg>Coordinating Committee also has reported of a celebration in another Kurdish city of Naghadeh on April 30 by the Committee activists. The ceremony included speeches, songs, poetry recital and distributing pastries. According to Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA), the Labor House in the Kurdish city of Saghez was barred from holding open labor day ceremonies. According to Seyyed Mohammad Saleh Hosseini, an activist with the Labor House, the organization, similar to the years passed, had asked for permit to hold ceremonial events. However, they had to resort to a closed gathering instead with no participation of workers representatives. He said holding labor day events with the participation of unrelated administration officials in a closed environment who do not have any information and knowledge on the labor issues and problems has no attraction to the workers. He criticized the heavy security approach and sensitivity towards the official labor organizations such as Labor House. Several independent labor organizations also issued statements on the occasion of May Day. Among those are Vahed Bus Workers Syndicate, a joint communique by Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Workers Syndicate, Tehran and Suburbs Mechanical Metal Workers Union and Tehran and Suburbs Painters and Construction Decorative Workers Union Reinstatement Committee, Free Union of Iranian Workers, Workers Rights Defenders Center, Coordinating Committee to Help Organize Workers Organizations, Sanandaj workers, Sanandaj, Mariwan and Sarvabad Bakers Unions as well as Bushehr Sadra Workers which celebrated May Day on strike. <http://iranlaborreport.com/?p=2241> 1000 Bushehr Sadra Workers go on Strike recent updates <http://iranlaborreport.com/?cat=1> May 4, 20130 <http://iranlaborreport.com/?p=2241#comments> More than one thousand Bushehr Sadra Marine Industry Company workers went on strike on April 30. In a statement, the Free Union of Iranian Workers enumerated the workers perils. The workers at Sadra have been at numerous times forced to work for 18 hours, several suffering injuries including dismemberment and disabilities. Four workers have lost their lives. The workers have been denied their wages and years of service benefits as well as bonuses. Currently, the workers are owed February, March and April dues. They have not still received their low yearly bonuses with forty days into the new year. Neither have the years of service benefits been paid. The workers suffer from very low job security and in case of slightest protests, they loose their jobs. Protesting contracting workers are among those that lost their jobs last January. Sadra is involved in Marine construction and ship building as well as oil and gas projects. --------------------------------------- Khatoon Abad Copper Stikers Attacked by the Guards Featured <http://iranlaborreport.com/?cat=7> / recent updates<http://iranlaborreport.com/?cat=1> May 4, 20130 <http://iranlaborreport.com/?p=2243#comments> Workers at Khatoon Abad Copper went on Strike on April 24 protesting their employment status. About 300 strikers closing down the gates of Khatoon Abad Copper Complex located in the suburbs of Shahre Babak in Kerman province did not allow entrance of raw materials to the compounds for six days. On April 30, special guard units attacked the strikers. The workers, however, took their sit-in inside the compounds and continued with their strike. According to the reports by local Mahan News, the protesting workers in two complexes, Khatoon Abad Copper Complex and Midok number around 2400. The workers since two years ago, following the administration ratification on elimination of intermediary contracting companies and direct employment of workers became part of Sarcheshmeh Copper Investing Company. Sarcheshmeh, in its place, in a contract with the workers promised to sign employment contracts with them after one year. With 18 months passed, the workers still remain without direct official contracts. In 2004, an attack by security forces on Khatoon Abad Copper miners resulted in four deaths. ------------------ Abuse of worker rights hallmark of Iranian regime Politics <http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/category/politics/> by Maryam Namazie<http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/author/maryamnamazie/> [image: Bahram Soroush protesting Iranian regime at International Labour Organisation meeting]<http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/files/2013/05/ilo.jpg> Bahram Soroush, Shahla Daneshfar and others protesting Iranian regime at International Labour Organisation meeting *From Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran<http://cfppienglish.wordpress.com/> Newsletter, My Voice. This editions contributor: Bahram Soroush, Free Them Now!<http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/2013/05/02/worker-rights/www.free-them-now.blogspot.com> Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran * Systematic abuse of worker rights has been a hallmark of the regime in Iran since its very inception. At the heart of the attack against workers is subjection of workers to minimum wage levels, which by the governments own admission, are one third of the official poverty line, and suppression of workers attempts to organise and strike. The name trade union is banned under the Islamic Republic, which has relied on its own handmade Islamic councils of labour in workplaces to spy on and keep workers protests in check. So when, in 2006, the bus workers in the capital Tehran started reviving their trade union and took strike action for the right to organise and for better pay and conditions, over 1,000 were arrested. Only through powerful protests in Iran and through magnificent international support by workers and human rights organisations around the world could many of the arrested be eventually freed. However, Union leaders were subjected to years of persecution, including the executive board member Reza Shahabi, who is still serving a four-year sentence in jail, despite serious medical conditions. The regime is clearly frightened by the threat of worker protests, not only in its attempts to protect the rights of the capitalist class that it represents (the regime itself is made up of billionaire Ayatollahs), but in order to pre-empt it from developing into a political protest that can bring down the entire regime. The regime, which has survived only through mass executions, torture and jailing, is despised by virtually all sections of the society, especially workers who have been driven to abject poverty and subjected to brutal persecution. The regimes dread of workers protests tends to reach its height in particular on such days as May Day and International Womens Day, as workers start to organise and prepare for independent protests and rallies. So again this year, in the build up to International Womens Day, worker leaders were arrested and detained on trumped up charges, and as we are nearing May Day, the regime is stepping up its persecution of labour activists. Early April, two trade unionists, Sharif Saed Panah and Mozaffar Saleh Nia, were given six-month jail sentences each. Labour leaders Reza Shahabi and Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, both on temporary medical leave from prison, are due to be returned to prison. Given the scale of its economic crisis and the widespread poverty following the scrapping of most subsidies and implementation of austerity measures, the regime is clearly frightened by the prospect of mass social protests. The increased persecution of trade union leaders are happening in this context. Union activists currently in detention (or about to be jailed) include: Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, a labour and childrens rights activist, who has already served three years of a five-year sentence, while his 14-year old son is in hospital for leukaemia. The extension of his medical leave has been refused Mohammad Jarahi, serving a five-year sentence despite a serious medical condition Ghaleb Hosseini, detained February 2013 Rasoul Bodaghi, serving a six-year sentence Abdolreza Ghanbari, on death row for taking part in anti-government protests in December 2009 Shahrokh Zamani, serving an 11-year sentence Arbitrary arrests and detentions, long prison terms following fabricated trials, torture and abuse, denial of medical care, threatening the families of the detainees, imposition of extortionate bails are part of a programme of persistent persecution which the Islamic regime in Iran practises against workers demanding their rights and attempting to organise. Only forceful protests in Iran and internationally can put an end to this flagrant denial of worker rights and persecution of labour activists. Shahrokh Zamani, a labourer, is a member of the organising committee of the Painters Labour Syndicate. He was arrested in January 2011 and sentenced to 11 years imprisonment for participating in the organisation of an unlawful group opposing the state with the aim of disrupting national security by way of workers strikes and armed rebellion assembly and collusion to further illegal activities and propaganda against the regime. He denies the charges. Two others were arrested with him but have since been released. After his arrest, he went on hunger strike for 4 months and spent 36 days in solitary confinement. His lawyer was denied access to his court files and was not allowed to speak in court. He has had to undergo harsh physical interrogation and his physical condition is said to be deteriorating. Iranian prisoners are sometimes granted leave, after they must again present themselves to the prison. In the case of Mr. Zamani, he was refused leave and he still has 10 years of his sentence to run. Reza Shahabi, treasurer of the Union of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs United Bus Company was in April 2012 sentenced to five years in prison for gathering and colluding against state security and one year for spreading propaganda against the system. He was also banned from union activity for a further five years. This, after having already served 22 months for peaceful union activities. In May 2012, he underwent an operation on his spine and was recommended to rest for three months by his doctor, a recommendation which was ignored by the prison authorities who sent him back to prison. In protest against his imprisonment, abuse by the prison guards and lack of medical attention, Mr. Shahabi went on hunger strike in December 2012. In January 2013, he was finally released on a five-day medical leave on the grounds of his deteriorating medical condition. Mr. Shahabis case received world wide attention. Amnesty International has designated him a prisoner of conscience and has called for his immediate and unconditional release. The International Transport Workers Federation has also demanded unconditional release of Mr. Shahabi and other trade unionists. Shakrokh Zamani and Reza Shahabi are two trade unionists imprisoned, purely for their beliefs and trade union activities. *** Sign a petition to stop torture and execution in Iran here<http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/BE_Their_Voice_STOP_Torture_Execution_in_Iran/?fcKpicb&pv=4> . http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/BE_Their_Voice_STOP_Torture_Execution_in_Iran/?fcKpicb&pv=4 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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