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Attacks on Tehran bus workers condemned
25 May 2005
The ITF has denounced a vicious attack on workers attending a meeting to revive a bus workers’ union in Tehran, Iran’s capital city.
Members of a committee to resuscitate the Sandikaye Kargarane Sherkate Vahed (Syndicate of the Workers of Tehran Bus Company), who were attending the meeting on 9 May, described being attacked by some 300 known representatives of Khaneh Kargar (Workers’ House) and Islamic Shoras (Islamic labour councils). These organisations are widely considered to be anti-labour groups controlled by the government.
According to the activists, Mansoor Ossanloo, a longstanding employee of the Tehran Bus Company, was badly wounded following a knife attack. He was taken to hospital where he needed multiple stitches in his tongue and neck. Several other activists were also beaten, it was claimed.
Reports state that the attackers carried placards proclaiming unions to be “devilish” and “anti-labour” and that security forces stood by while the attacks took place, confiscating news agency and press cameras and tape recorders.
In a letter to President Seyed Mohammad Khatami on 19 May, ITF General Secretary David Cockroft appealed for the perpetrators to be dealt with by the justice system in an appropriate and fair manner.
He added, “I would respectfully seek assurances from you that the inalienable rights of the Tehran bus company workers will be protected in future.” Cockroft also reminded him that the rights to organise and collectively bargain were laid down as core standards by the International Labour Organization.
The bus workers’ union stopped operating in 1985, after the government, Khaneh Kargar and Islamic Shoras shut down all independent labour organisations in the early to mid-1980s.
Protest letters should be sent to: Mr Seyed Mohammad Khatami, President, The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic, Republic of Iran, Fax: 98-21-648.06.65, Email: khatami@president.ir
More information: info@workers-iran.org
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