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/MAY DAY/IRAN: Workers Protest Ban on Demonstrations
By Ramim Mostaghim
TEHERAN, May 1 (IPS) - Workers around Teheran who had planned to
demonstrate May Day against low minimum wages, now plan to protest
because they were not allowed to demonstrate.
Riot police turned up at Khane Karegar (House of Labour), which houses
several union offices in Teheran to order union leaders to postpone their rallies
to May 6.
The police action drew instant protest. "This is the first time since the triumph of
the Islamic revolution that workers leaders have had to cancel a rally on
International Labour Day," Alireza Mahjoub, member of parliament and
secretary-general of Khane Karegar wrote to government authorities. "This is
the most bitter decision ever made by workers unions."
The unions had planned demonstrations to demand higher wages to keep up
with the cost of living, and early retirement options for workers doing hazardous
jobs. The rallies were cancelled apparently under pressure from the Interior
Ministry.
"We could not risk having our workers get beaten up and arrested," Mahjoub
told IPS. "But sooner or later we will protest."
Unions will file a lawsuit against the officials who forced them to cancel the
rallies, said Mahjoub. Union leaders say that the right to hold demonstrations is
guaranteed by Article 27 of the Constitution.
"Security officers owe us the right to hold rallies on International Labour Day,"
said Hassan Sadeghi, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Labour. "We will
gather in a few days and vent our anger."
Officials at the Interior Ministry say the demonstrations were cancelled due to
tension over the presence of U.S. forces inside Iraq. Demonstrations close to
border towns could have been particularly destabilising, they say.
Deputy Interior Minister for Law and Security Ali Taali said earlier that many
officials in Teheran were opposed to the May Day demonstrations due to "global
and regional circumstances."
Omid Rastegar, 26, a technician at Neka port on the Caspian Sea says the
pro-U.S. slogans raised in Behshahr, an industrial city close to Neka, worried
officials.
"Some of the workers were shouting slogans asking President George Bush to
leave Iraq and come and save Iranians," he said. "The authorities are very
worried about such sentiments, and what might happen if these rallies go out of
control."
A member of the Communist Labour party which works underground says the
situation inside Iraq was only an excuse to cancel the demonstrations. "The
regime is misusing the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq to crack down on workers
and other protesting groups in Iran," he said. "Instead they should be
encouraging workers to come together in these conditions."
Mohammed Vali from the daily Karo Karegar (Labour and Labourer) said the
government was manipulating and intimidating union leaders. "Independent
and viable trade unions cannot survive in the face of this repressive
government," he said.
"The presence of American forces near our borders is a good excuse to stop
workers from protesting," said Prof Shapour Ravasani, a strong opponent of
globalisation. "But I am certain that even these state-sponsored workers leaders
will have to fight for the rights of Iranian workers, though we should not expect
too much from quasi trade unions."
Mohammad Hydari, manager of the workers website parspejvak.com says the
coming months will see an upsurge of protests whether officials like it or not.
"The roots of dissatisfaction run deep and they cannot be ignored on the pretext
of the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq," he says. (END/2003)
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