SUPPORT THE IRANIAN WORKERS' STRUGGLE
AGAINST ISLAMIST-CAPITALIST REGIME
The capitalist system under the Islamic regime in Iran has condemned working people to extreme exploitation and poverty. The whole economy is in crisis. Every month, factory after factory are closed down; thousands of workers lose their jobs and ending up in streets without any social security. According to official figures, the rate of unemployment amongst 16 to 30 years old is 25%. Many of those who still have a job have not been paid for months and in some case for more than two years. While the official poverty line is $900 per month, the minimum wage set by government and bosses is only $300.
The workers are denied even basic rights. There is no freedom of expression and no free press. Independent workers' organisations, unions and strikes are banned. Workers, who protest against these unbearable working conditions, factory closures and unpaid wages, face the suppressive and brutal force of the regime. Yet workers' struggles have been going on. In 2005, 8,000 bus workers in Tehran set up their independent union (the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company) and went on strike. The strike was ruthlessly crushed by the police and security forces. Hundreds of workers were arrested and dozens of members of the union were sacked. The leader of the union Mansor Ossanlo and his deputy Ebrahim Madady are in prison. However, the union is still active, although in a semi-underground condition.
In 2007, thousands of workers in Haft Tapeh’s Sugar Cane Company in southern Iran fought a long battle against a company closure. They demonstrated in their thousands and went on strike, and in the process set up their independent union (Syndicate of Workers of Haft Taph Sugar Cane Company). The workers were successful in saving their jobs. The regime, following its brutal attack on workers during the strike, sacked and arrested several members of board of the syndicate and charged them with prison sentences. Ali Nejati, president of the syndicate is currently in prison.
On May Day 2009, hundreds of worker activists from several independent workers organisations, set up a rally in a park in the centre of Tehran to celebrate May Day and to demand their basic rights. The rally was attacked by security guards, participants were severely beaten and many were arrested. However, this rally was yet again a clear indication of the courage and determination of Iranian workers to fight against inhuman economic and political conditions imposed on them by Islamic regime.
It is within this context that the after the June 2009 undemocratic and rigged presidential elections, millions of people took to the streets and demonstrated for several months against the regime, demanding real change. The demonstrators were brutally attacked by security forces and police. As a result, more than a hundred people were killed; thousands were arrested and put in prison. The prisoners are tortured and there are confirmed reports that many detainees, women and men, have been raped.
We demand the immediate and unconditional release of jailed workers and all political prisoners in Iran.
Your union can support the Iranian workers struggle against the suppressive Islamic-capitalist regime and for a better society. Contact us to find out how.
International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran-Britain
http://www.etehadbinalmelali.com/
BM Box 2699, London WC1N 3XX
Posted via email from lissping
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.