Iran
Content about workers' struggles, revolution, war and events in Iran.
Iranian sugar cane workers enter sixth week of strike
Workers of the Haft-Tapeh Sugar Cane Factory in Shush escalated their fight for unpaid wages this morning by blocking the main highway into the factory.
The blockade of the factory is the latest in a series of actions undertaken by workers, who are continuing their strike in the face of brutal repression by security forces.
Workers at Haft-Tapeh started their strike on May 5 to demand immediate payment of wages, which had not been received for three months prior to the strike.
Repression of tyre factory strike in Iran, workers abducted
Following three days of strike action at a tyre factory in northern Iran, Iranian security forces broke into the plant on Saturday and abducted at least 1,000 striking workers.
The workers had been on strike at the Kian Tire Factory in the Alborz region of northern Iran since last Thursday, demanding the payment of unpaid wages. On Saturday evening, security forces entered the plant using bulldozers to tear down walls, and arrested around 1,000 workers.
Mahmoud Salehi's message from prison for the March 6 Day of Solidarity
Imprisoned labor leader Mahmoud Salehi, one of the Saqqez 7 and member of Komiteye Hamahangi sends a statement in solidarity with workers and participants of the March 6 international day of solidarity with imprisoned Iranian labor activists.
Mahmoud Salehi’s Message to All Workers and concerned organizers and participants of the March 6th Global Day of Action.
Statement by Komiteye-Hamahangi (Coordinating Committee to Form Workers Organizations in Iran)
Founding statement by Komiteye Hamahangi (or the Coordinating Committe to Form Workers Organizations in Iran). Founded in 2005 with the signatures of around 3,000 workers it looks to the founding of workers councils (shoras) in Iran.
A number of their members have been imprisoned. The most famous case being the Saqqez Seven, which includes Mahmoud Salehi.
On “Coordinating Committee to Form Workers Organization”
The ‘Coordinating Committee to Form Workers Organization’ is not a workers organization. This committee is an organized group of worker-activists struggling to meet the following aims:
Iran: bus drivers issue solidarity statement
The Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Vahed) Union, issued a statement of solidarity with the French transport workers.
In the statement, issued on November 23, 2007, workers say "[we] have learned that the French government along with their capitalist allies has pummeled your retirements rights that had been gained over many years of struggle."
"Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company Syndicate unequivocally supports your great cause and let it be heard that your struggle is the struggle of all workers of the world.
Iran: The struggle of the Haft-Tapeh workers
Workers at Iran's Haft Tapeh sugar factory have been engaged in a struggle since they first went on strike in October. The state responded with repression, arresting organizers, and the workers have been engaged in action in response.
Here is the statement from the Workers Action Committee following the initial strike.
Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane workers in southern Iran go on strike
The working class in Iran: some background - class struggles from 1979-1989 - Mostafa Saber
Some excerpts from A Brief Look at the Situation of the Working Class in Iran, a short description of workers' history and conditions - and their struggles during and following the 1979 Revolution.
Of particular interest is the observation that "in practice the [workers'] councils, due to their complete accordance with workers' direct and immediate exercise of power, won an indisputable victory vis-a-vis the unions. The few attempts at creating unions remained irrelevant to the real workers' movement."
Iran sentences labour leader to five years imprisonment
Mansoor Osanloo, leader of the Tehran bus drivers union, who has been imprisoned for months after being kidnapped on the street by police has just been sentenced by Iran's judiciary.
An Iranian court has sentenced a dissident labor leader to five years in jail, a judiciary official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
Mansoor Osanloo, who runs a union grouping bus drivers, was detained in July for "distributing statements against the system". Western rights groups say Iran has launched a crackdown on dissenting voices, although Tehran denies this.
Repression continues in Iran
Iranian labour activists have come under fierce attack recently with bus workers' union organiser, Mansour Osanloo imprisoned and at risk of losing his sight.
The ITF is condemning the latest tactic in what it describes as a cynical catalogue of dirty tricks played by the Iranian government on imprisoned trade union leader Mansour Osanloo.
Iranian trade unionist kidnapped
Iranian bus union leader, Mansour Osanloo, was kidnapped on his way home from work yesterday.
The following report was received this evening from the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) in London:
