[A-List] Workers arrested amid rising protests over pay and layoffs

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

The Worker-communist Party of Iran piggybacking itself on labor
activists in Iran is detrimental to the cause of labor in Iran. --
Yoshie

On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 2:02 PM, Tony B. <tal1 at cogeco.ca> wrote:
>> <3FEABDD7C2044306B75B11D377975E7F at j8d1b935ebaff4>
>>
>> International Labour Solidarity Committee of the
>> Worker-communist Party of Iran
>>
>> 30 December 2008
>>
>>
>>
>> Iran: workers arrested amid rising protests over pay and layoffs
>>
>>
>>
>> In the past few days Iran's Islamic authorities have started
>> a new wave of arrest and detention of worker activists.
>>
>> On Saturday Ebrahim Madadi, deputy secretary of the Union of
>> Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, was arrested by
>> plain clothes men in the presence of the security forces. He
>> is believed to have been taken to Tehran's Evin Prison.
>>
>> On 22 December, Bijan Amiri, member of the Co-ordinating
>> Committee to form Workers' Organisations and an employee of
>> Iran Khodro car company, was detained by the plant's
>> security office (Herasat) and handed over to the security
>> forces.
>>
>> On the same evening, Mohsen Hakimi, who was visiting Mr
>> Amiri's residence, was arrested during a raid by the
>> security forces. Mr Hakimi is a member of Iranian Writers'
>> Association and also a member of the Co-ordinating Committee
>> to form Workers' Organisations.  According to Mr Hakimi's
>> lawyers and family, both men are being held in Ward 209 (the
>> intelligence ministry's interrogation quarter) of Evin
>> Prison.
>>
>> On 23 December, Bakhtiar Rahimi was arrested by security
>> officers in the Kurdistan province and taken to an unknown
>> location. Mr Rahimi spent some months in prison last year
>> and was only recently released.
>>
>> On 24 December, Pedram Nasrollahi, member of the
>> Co-ordinating Committee to form Workers' Organisations, was
>> arrested during a raid on his home by the intelligence
>> ministry officers. Some of his personal effects were also
>> seized.
>>
>> Meanwhile, according to Tehran bus workers' union, members
>> of the union's management board have received phone calls
>> asking them to contact the authorities, but they have said
>> they would only respond to written summons, and no summons
>> have been received. Six members of the union's management
>> board, namely Yaghoub Salimi, Saeed Torabian, Ata Babakhani,
>> Ali Zadeh Hussein, Abbas Najand Kouhi and Davood Razavi, are
>> currently under suspended sentences of from 6 to 14 months,
>> while the union's president Mansoor Osanlou has been in
>> prison for one and a half years. Ebrahim Gohari, another
>> board member, is awaiting a court verdict.
>>
>> In another development, on 20 December, five members of the
>> management board of the newly-formed Union of Haft Tappeh
>> Sugar Cane Workers, namely Ali Nejati, Fereydoon Nikoofard,
>> Ghorban Alipour, Jalil Ahmadi and Mohammad Heydari Mehr,
>> appeared in court in the city of Dezfoul, but no verdicts
>> have yet been issued.
>>
>> The arrests and intimidations come amidst widespread
>> protests and strikes across the country over unpaid wages,
>> layoffs and plant closures. In the mean time, several
>> workers' organisations, including the Free Union of Workers
>> in Iran, Union of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company
>> and Union of Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Workers, have initiated
>> a national pay campaign, which is attracting increasing
>> attention among workers around the country (more on this on
>> www.kargaran.org).
>>
>> In an interview with Rooz website yesterday, Saeed Torabian,
>> Public Relations Officer of Tehran bus workers' union,
>> said:
>>
>> "These pressures have not started today or yesterday. From
>> the moment workers have become aware of their rights,
>> regarded independent workers' organisations and genuine
>> representatives as their certain right and started uniting,
>> such pressures have increased. At the same time, due to
>> grievances such as low pay, fall in workers' purchasing
>> power, rent rises and arbitrary firings, we have witnessed
>> numerous protests across the country and the turning of
>> large numbers of workers towards independent workers'
>> organisations. This too has led to worker activists coming
>> under increased pressure. However, fortunately, these
>> incidents have not had any impact on workers and worker
>> activists, and until they get their rights, they will not
>> back down an inch".
>>
>>
>>
>> *     *    *
>>
>>
>> Please send letters of protest to the ministries of the
>> Islamic Republic of Iran, calling for the release of all
>> those arrested and an end to persecution of workers:
>>
>>
>>
>> Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei
>>
>> Office of the Supreme Leader
>> Islamic Republic Street
>> Shahid Keshvar Doust Street
>> Tehran, Iran
>> Email: info at leader.ir
>>
>>
>> Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
>>
>> The Presidency
>> Palestine Avenue,
>> Azerbaijan Intersection
>> Tehran, Iran
>> Email: dr-ahmadinejad at president.ir
>>
>>
>>
>> Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
>>
>> Office of the Head of the Judiciary
>> Pasteur St.,Vali Asr Ave.,
>> South of Serah-e Jomhouri,
>> Tehran, Iran
>> Email: info at dadgostary-tehran.ir