A-Infos (en) Iran - articles and links #1 [excerpts]

["rc-am" <rcollins@netlink.com.au>]

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[some articles and links on Iran which might go some way to providing a
context to recent events.  if anyone has any further info, i'd like to see
that also.  - Angela]

articles from the Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of Iran
http://www.rahekargar.org/

Labour unrest intensifies

Oil workers strike warning.

In early June Oil Refinery workers in Abadan, Mahshahr, Bandar Abbas, and
Masjed Soleiman warned president Khatami’s administration of strike action if
he does not increase wages in accordance with inflation and is prepared to
accept group negotiation. Teheran refinery workers added their support.

The regime had accepted both demands in January last year after nation-wide
strikes and demonstrations outside the oil company headquarters in Teheran.
Instead hundreds have been arrested. More ominously, a number of oil workers
have died under mysterious circumstances, suggesting extra-judicial
execution. [Atlas June 4]

On August 15 oil refinery workers from Abadan Oil Refinery staged a
demonstration in protest against the delaying tactics of the authorities of
the Islamic regime. In a resolution at the end of this demonstration the
workers summarised their main demands: Implementation of national
negotiation, and wages in line with inflation. They warned the regime once
again that if their demands are not met they will organise mass
demonstrations and protests. [Committee for the Defence and Support of
Iranian oil workers].

Strikes and arrests

Workers in Ahwaz power station have been on strike since May 16. The 450
workers had been promised some additional welfare payments such as travel
allowance and job classification. They remained on strike by Early July. Also
400 workers in Ahwaz Tube Manufactor went on strike and demonstrations (Atlas
42)

Tabriz Tractor manufacture: Here too a strike began on June 7 with a pay rise
as a central demand. The strike was crushed by security forces who arrested
three workers. Yet the workers continued their sit in at the factory. Oil
tanker drivers in Isfahan refinery refused to load oil until their tariffs
were increased. The strike of these 400 drivers caused a fuel shortage in the
city and the surrounding province. The security forces have arrested three
drivers.

Three hundred workers from Iran Wood Industry, the largest and most modern in
the Middle East, had a sit-in outside its central retail store in Teheran on
August 25. They were protesting at non-payment of wages for five months. The
factory had been privatised and returned to its previous owner 8 months
before who then closed the factory without compensation to the workers.
(Atlas 44) the sitdown protest contnued for several days [Iskra]

Closure threats

Many factory closures have left thousands of workers unemployed. Some are
demanding their back pay: 200 workers are threatened with expulsion in the
Isfahan Steel Smelting Plant, one of the largest industrial units of the
country. To forestall potential strikes several workers suspected of left
sympathies have been arrested.

Contract labour in the Abadan Refinery demonstrated outside the Governor’s
office on May 18. 1,200 such workers have been laid off, many after eight
years’ of work.

Asia Stocking Making factory workers, threatened with redundancy, went on
hunger strike. Kar Thread making plant stopped work on May 25. The 540
workers had not been paid for 4 months and are under threat of redundancy.
The workers have also been denied health care as the factory has a large debt
to the Organisation of Social Security.

Bandar Abbas port custom officers staged a sit down in protest at poor
facilities.

One hundred workers made redundant in Dezful attacked the labour office with
stoned breaking its windows. In Ilam municipal workers demonstrated and Yazd
Smelting Plant workers went on strike because they had not been paid for
months. [Iran] Tabas coal miners protested outside the Governor’s Office
because they had been laid off without pay or compensation for 9 months.
Teheran Chalk factory workers also demonstrated agaisnt expulsions. [Kar]

Four hundred students in the Art College held a protest sit in on June 7
complaining of insults by the authorities, and poor dormitory conditions.
Protest moves by the nursing students in Teheran has spread to other colleges
in Zanjan, Arak, Isfahan etc. Classes were boycotted because of changes in
the system that increases pressures without any improvement in education or
other facilities.

One hundred workers involved in the reconstruction of the Khorramshahr, a
city almost completely destroyed in the Iran-Iraq war, protested at 4 months
delay in pay and un-compensated expulsion of 80 of their colleagues [Kar].

Lay offs have been reported from Khaneh Gostar constructioncompany lainked to
the ministry of housing [Kar] and Electric in Rasht [Kar va Kargar].

Closures

Four hundred manufacturing units, in textile, leather and shoes, machinery,
food products, carpets, construction, etc have been totally shut down. These
include: 57 industrial units, nylon an nylex making (25), textiles and
carpets (28) filters (13), food products (46), clothes items (26) household
goods (47), construction equipment (27), aluminium and cast iron (11),
syringes (2) [Jame’h, Teheran, June 10]

According to Kar va kargar (published in Iran May 26) in Gilan province alone
20,00 contract workers are in danger of losing their jobs.

Nanshahr Company has laid off 64 workers and threatens many more. The
following factories have also shut down: Pars Compressor in Shiraz, Kashan
machine-made carpet. Bisotun Flour Mill (Kermanshah).

Surveillance of activists

A special committee has been set up in Ray, South Teheran – called the Pol
Siman Committee. Its job is to interrogate protesting workers in factories
situated south of the capital. By June this committee had interrogated 50-60
workers [Iskra]

Work-related accidents

According to a report by the Organisation of Social Security, 10,977
accidents occurred in workplaces covered by social security in 1997. 5,315
were due to negligence and 1021 due to faulty machinery. There were 113
fatalities and 276 had to be laid of work. Only factories with over 50
workers are covered by social security, hence missing out two thirds of the
work-force. In the first two months of the Iranian calender alone 18 persons
died and 39 severly damaged in occupational accidents.

An example of the neglect of occupational dangers is provided by the
explosion for the second time in Arak Petrochemical factory injuring six
workers [Kar].

Children at work

It was announced in Iran that 1.2 million workers in Iran are below 15 or
above 65 years old. [Atlas June 4]

Alireza Mahjub, Chairman of the Labour House and Majles deputy admitted in an
interview on June 25 that "the real pay of workers is only 1/3 of its current
buying power and is 40% less than it was 20 years ago". He went on to say
that many industrial units are "on the brink of closure", and that many
workers have not been paid for months [Kar].

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