The right to strike and protest are workers' absolute rights
According to international regulations no one has the right to prevent workers from achieving their demands. The right to strike is one of the absolute rights of workers and it is an internationally accepted right.
Dear friends and workmates,
The security forces in the [Kurdish] town of Sanandaj have attacked the ranks of striking workers of Parris textiles. On the order of the [Kurdistan] province security council the workers were beaten and a number of the Parris workers were forcibly put on a bus and taken to an unknown destination outside town.
The security forces proved that they only protect the capitalists. The security forces showed that wherever the interests of the capitalists are in danger then they are not bound by any international or humanitarian regulations.
Don't the attacks on workers in Babak town [where copper workers were killed in January 2004] and the Vahed Bus Company, and now the attack on the Parris workers of Sanandaj, show anything but this?
But what do the workers of Parris textiles in Sanandaj demand? They don't want to be become unemployed. Is this a crime? The workers don't accept contracts for just a few months. Is this a crime? The workers want to have representatives. Is this a crime?
If the boss forces workers to sign contracts for just a few months and the workers don't accept this, and there is no one to defend them against the boss and the Labour Ministry only the backs the bosses and it is also not answerable to the workers, then there is no way out for the workers but to strike.
Why must workers, at the same time as selling their labour power, give a bond of twenty million rials [over 18 months' wages]? Why must we make a pledge and give a bond that if we breathe, that if we protest against our hunger and we demand permanent work, not only do we get sacked but also fined. To achieve their demands the workers went on strike. This is their absolute right.
We would like to know which international regulations make going on strike a crime so that the security forces attacked the ranks of the striking workers.
Friends and workmates,
We, the workers of Iran Khodro, as part of the workers' community, condemn the attack on the workers of Parris factory in Sanandaj and call on all workers' organisations and unions, and human rights activists and groups, to demand that the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran ends the martial situation being used against workers' demonstrations and protests as quickly as possible.
As well as defending the struggles of the Parris workers of Sanandaj, the Iran Khodro workers support their just demands to revoke all temporary contracts and have long-term work, for workers to have job and personal security, and insistence on the importance of forming workers' organisations.
A group of Iran Khodro workers,
29 August 2006
(Translated by Iranian Workers' Solidarity Network)
Iran Khodro is the largest vehicle manufacturer in the Middle East, producing over 110,000 units a year. It produces passenger cars, minibuses and buses, vans and trucks. It was formed in 1962 and currently employs around 30,000 workers.
http://www.iwsn.org/labour/khodro-parris.htm
Iranian Workers' Solidarity Network
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