The Islamic Republic of Iran has been engaged in a systematic campaign of harassment and intimidation against the Vahed bus drivers over the past eleven months. In March 2005 the company began firing activists trying to re-launch the trade union which had been disbanded during the repression of the 1980s.
On 9 May 2005 around 300 members of the Labour House and the Islamic Labour Councils - two bodies that the Islamic regime uses to suppress genuine workers' organisations and trade unions - attacked a meeting of the Founding Committee of the Trade Union of the Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company. Aided by the security forces, they were able to break the door of the union's office, smash windows, tear up documents and books, and beat up around ten members of the Founding Committee.
Hassan Sadeghi, the Secretary of the Co-ordination Headquarters of the Islamic Labour Councils, and at least a further nine leaders of the Labour House and the Islamic Labour Councils, led this attack. The assailants targeted Mansour Ossanlou, the Vahed leader of the union, in particular. While Sadeghi held Ossanlou's hand behind his back, another regime-appointed 'labour leaders' tried to cut out his tongue. Following hospital treatment it was Mr Ossanlou who was taken into custody for questioning - not the attackers!
Then a few weeks later, these attackers attended the 93rd Session of the International Labour Council in Geneva. On 14 June 2005 the conference reviewed the labour situation in Iran with Sadeghi and another of the attackers acting as genuine workers' representatives and 'experts'!
By late July the number of fired workers had reached seventeen. These were all leaders and members who had been involved in organising the first general assembly of the Vahed trade union on 3 June 2005 - when 8000 of the 17000 workers took part in debates and elections.
The regime gradually, and under much pressure from the Vahed workers, workers in other industries and international organisations, released these leaders and activists. Nevertheless, the persecution of the Vahed trade unionists continued at a lower level until 22 December. At 6am on that day, Information Ministry personnel searched the home of Mr Ossanlou and arrested him and several members of the Steering Committee of the union. This was a move calculated to make them feel isolated - as international support during the Christmas break would have been difficult to mobilise.
But the Vahed workers were not going to be cowed by the bosses. Around 3000 of them went on strike on 25 December 2005. The regime's response was to freeze the trade unionists' bank accounts, block wage payments and charge them with trumped up offences. It also used Dr Ghalibaf, the mayor of Tehran, to sweet talk the workers into ending their strike. Ghalibaf told them stories about being from a humble background, that his father had been a worker and so on. But all his promises about the underlying problems of the workers turned out to be empty ones.
The workers then announced that they will go back on strike on 28 January, demanding that Mr Ossanlou is released and their union recognised. This time the regime's security forces attacked their homes the night before the strike and beat and took into custody members of their families. (A number of the workers' wives and daughters were held for a number of days.)
On the day of the strike the regime mobilised the police, riot police, plain clothes security officers and various paramilitary groups. They tried, through beatings and violence, to force the drivers back to work. They then arrested between 700 and 1300 workers, and many students and other supporters of the strike. The jailed workers resisted: at one stage over 500 were on hunger strike in Evin prison. Those still free announced that they would go on strike on Friday 3 February. Their demands were:
- The release of Mr Ossanlou and other leaders
- Signing a collective agreement
- Union recognition
- Better pay and conditions.
This strike passed without much incident as Friday is the Islamic Republic's equivalent of Sunday and the workers stayed at home.
However, there are still 60-70 workers in prison - many of them on hunger strike. The solidarity and support of the international labour movement is crucial in bringing about the release of the Vahed workers and helping them realise their just demands. The Iranian labour movement stands at a crossroads and the victory of the Vahed workers will help open the way for union recognition, genuine and representative labour organisations, and better pay and conditions for millions of workers. We urge you to support the international day of action on 15 February as a step towards bringing about this change in Iranian society.