The Global State of Workers' Rights - Iran

Repressive

No independent unions are permitted in Iran, even though Article 26 of the constitution protects the right to freedom of association. Iran is a member of the International Labour Organization (ILO) but has not ratified ILO Convention 87, which calls for freedom of association and the right to organize.

Under the 1990 labor code, each workplace may establish an Islamic Labor Council (ILC) or a workers' guild. However, no other form of representation is permitted where an ILC has been established, a rule that has the practical effect of promoting ILCs over independent guilds.

ILCs are overseen by the Workers' House, the only authorized national labor organization. Consequently, the Workers' House maintains control over nearly all labor disputes. In addition, government entities draft ILC constitutions, election procedures, and operational rules. Workers have no right to collective bargaining, although in practice ILCs often back workers' demands. All unions and labor groups, including the Workers' House, are closely monitored by the state, and the current administration has increased surveillance of unions and become involved in their elections. The labor law theoretically permits independent forms of representation, allowing workers to dismiss their ILC by collecting signatures. However, the government has suppressed most attempts to do so.

Workers in the public sector are barred from striking. Those in the private sector are permitted to engage in "go slow" protests or lay down their tools while remaining on the job. Even demonstrations by the Workers' House are controlled. Despite this ban, strikes and work stoppages – most notably by transport workers, teachers, and factory employees – are common. Workers who engage in peaceful strikes and demonstrations are often subject to harassment, imprisonment, torture, and other mistreatment during detention.

Members of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company Trade Union (Sherkat-e Vahed) are particularly vulnerable to such abuses. The union was established in June 2005 despite repeated government attempts to prevent its creation. Repression continued after the union's establishment, and 29 members were imprisoned. All but Mansour Osanloo, the union's president, were released following a bus drivers' strike. A second strike protesting Osanloo's continued detention was planned for January 2006. However, the government sought to prevent the strike by arresting eight members of the union's executive board and bringing in bus drivers from other cities. An additional 700 to 1,000 workers and their family members were arrested; many were severely beaten, including one union member's 12-year-old daughter. Union leaders were arrested in their homes, and drivers who refused to take the wheel were beaten.

Osanloo was finally released in August 2006 amid growing domestic and international outrage at the treatment of the workers, but he was arrested several more times that year. In 2007 he was sentenced to five years in prison for "threatening national security" and "propaganda against the state," having rallied support for independent unions in Iran during a trip to Europe.

Osanloo remains in Evin prison. Ebrahim Maddadi, the union's vice president, is serving a three-year prison sentence that was also handed down in 2007.

Rallies held in recognition of International Labor Day are regularly suppressed and their participants jailed. In February 2009, labor activists Sussan Razani and Shiva Kheirabadi were flogged for their participation in May Day events in 2008. On May 1, 2009, rallies in Tehran, Sanandaj, and Tabriz were brutally dispersed by authorities, who arrested 100 to 150 people. Of those detained, 25 men and two women were released the next day; all others were transferred to Evin prison, where they remained at year's end.

Teachers' unions have organized strikes and rallies to protest low wages for years.

Although teachers' associations have been banned since 2007, they were never formally dissolved, and many teachers continue to participate in unions despite ongoing harassment. On May 4, 2009, authorities broke up a gathering organized by the Tehran Teachers' Association (TTA) to celebrate National Teachers' Day and arrested several attendees. TTA member Sajad Khaksari, the son of prominent TTA leaders, faced double jeopardy in 2009. In June he was acquitted of all charges stemming from one arrest in 2006 and two earlier in 2009; however, during the government's crackdown on civic activists following the flawed June 12 presidential election, a different court convicted him of the same charges. On appeal, Khaksari was again acquitted of two charges, while a third charge was pending final judgment at year's end.

In October 2009, five leaders of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company Workers' Syndicate were sentenced to several months in prison on charges of "spreading propaganda against the regime." They began serving their sentences in November. Also in October, workers at a pipe manufacturing plant in Ahwaz went on strike to protest 10 months of unpaid wages.

Security forces intervened and ended the strike on its fourth day, arresting about 50 people and injuring many.

Professional associations are not able to operate freely. After the Association of Iranian Journalists (AIJ) reported in 2007 that journalism had suffered in quality and investment due to government interference, the organization faced harassment. Its offices were raided and closed by the Tehran prosecutor in August 2009, and authorities arrested its spokesman in December.

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