Iranian
Workers News
Number
Compiled
by Majid Tamjidi
for Radio
Voice of Iranian Workers
-Following the release of Mansour Ossanlou,
(president of Syndicate of Vahed Bus
Company Employees) from
prison, he has met a number of well wishers at his home, amongst them a
group
from the central council of
- According to news agency ISNA, the protest by
contract
workers in Iran Khodro Diesel is continuing. Around 3000 workers are
involved
and when they were informed that managers have reduced their salaries
between
30,000 to 60,000 tomans a month, they started a number of protests to
show
their discontent. . According to ISNA on the first day of the protests
one of
the workers tried to commit suicide by hanging, however the rope he was
using
was too weak and he ended up injured. Apparently these workers
announced they
will widen the strike unless their demands are met. According to one of
the
workers, management are now threatening the workers with expulsion,
compulsory
use of written guarantees before they are paid and workers are forced
to accept
management conditions before they are paid.
At the same time some of the contract workers in Iran Khodro Diesel, have replied by email to claims made by the director of the Company’s Public Relations section who had claimed din press interviews that workers’ pay has not been cut , it is just a matter of a delay in payment of some wages. These workers have reasserted that they can prove the director is lying by showing their pay slips for the last 2 months. These workers add that
The Diesel sections Islamic Shora ( a government religious) that supposedly agreed to this pay cut in June 2006 was dismantled a few days later , in compliance with the rule that even Islamic Shoras are not allowed to operate in vital sections of industry. These workers further add tat he so called elections of the Islamic Shora were also questionable as the man put in charge of the Islamic Shora was in fact the director of a production section and in eth first days of the strike, he was going around the canteen collecting the names of those on strike. In the same email these workers challenge the Company’s claim that the worker who tried to commit suicide was mentally unstable, they write: “how can we believe that in a company that spend millions of tomans checking the health of its work force, they kept a worker who was mentally unstable. In similar cases, sacking such workers has been easier than a drink of water for the managers.
Ilna reports that the strike has so far cost the company nearly 400million tomans which according to one source in the company is many time more than the amount deducted from the workers salaries. Workers in Iran Khodro Diesel have also set fire to two buses on the production line., causing further damages of around 400million tomans. In continuing their protest, workers in this section refuse to eat in eth refectory and spend their lunch time outside the building. The managers have used proposed ratification to the Labour Legislation, allowing a reduction in contract workers wages, to reduce the salaries of workers in this section. These workers have announced they continue their protest until the anti labour legislation is dropped. On the other hand managers are collecting the names of those who refuse to go to the refectory both to divide workers and to threaten t those identified with the sack.
-According to News Agency ILNA, the plan for improvement of ‘temporary contracts’ and contractors of man power was kept under raps for 6months. According to the raporteur of the Economic commission, a number of deficiencies in the new legislation as well as similarities with existing Labour legislation articles have lead to a delay in the presentation of the new legislation.
-More than 100 workers from Mazandaran textile
factory
(Tabarestan) gathered in front of the
local
governor’s office in Ghaem Shahr complaining about non payment of their wages for more than 3 months. This textile factory with a long standing history
of production, used to employ 7000workers and with 50 direct sale
outlets the
factory played an important part in
export of textile goods. However it is currently employing only 400
workers and
although it is supposedly under the cover of the ‘Plan for the
reconstruction
of Iranian industries’ none of its faulty equipment have been replaced
or
repaired. A number of workers in this
textile unit have been bought back by
the factory as their wage shave not been paid .
-The sacking of workers, in accordance with new
legislation
of 1385 (March 2006) continues. In the first 4months of this year
(March – July
2006) 4to 5000 workers have been sacked in Lorestan.
The Ministry of Labour has announced that
determination of workers wages must be achieved in an agreement between
the
workers and the employer. However no employer in Lorestan province
wants to
follow this ‘guidance’ and most of them are adamant that worker’s pay
should be
set at 150,000tomans ( 150 pounds) a month. In addition in accordance
with the
new legislation, some 300 workers have lost their jobs and it is
predicted that
this figure will rise to 800. In the city of
-700 workers from the furnaces of Ghercheck and
Varamin have
issued a leaflet asserting that the “so called agreement of 1385 has
not worked
in our workplace as management is taking unilateral action, telling
workers if
they refuse the 150,000toman (150 pounds a month) they
will be sacked.” These workers add: “we a
group of workers from Varamin and Ghercheck furnaces
want to complain about the ‘wage bargaining’ proposals. We have
come to
this region from more deprived areas to work under most difficult
conditions. We
are facing extortion and unfortunately we see some powerful people
claiming to
represent workers , playing with our livelihood