Iranian Workers Fight Back! Support Their Demands! Workers in Iran, from garment and textile to steel and electric appliances and other manufacturing industries to transit, hospital and educational employees have been escalating their fight back struggles against the regime and the ruling classes, in the past couple of months, especially immediately before and after the Iranian New Year, 1380 (March 21, 2001  to March 20, 2002). Last month, hundreds of textile workers from Simin Factory in Isfahan, one of  the largest cities in Iran, protested against non-payment of their wages for months. They marched on the streets of Isfahan, chanting slogans against the government, such as (“Referendum! Referendum!” “Down with despotism” and “Bread, Housing and Freedom!”. Security forces viciously confronted protesters, wounding scores of them and arresting at least 25 workers. During the same week, workers in Tehran demonstrated against their unbearable low wages, demanding the national minimum wage to be increased according to the real inflation rate, which is above 30 percent. There have been numerous workers’ protests in different cities of Iran, within the same period, against the non-payment of wages and bonuses, privatizations, factory closures, lay offs, unemployment and lack of social security systems for working people and their families. Direct and independent actions such as sit-ins, wildcat strikes, rallies and marches inside and outside factories and on the streets, and blockage of roads, highways and intersections are some of the measures taken by workers in their current fight back struggles. The economic conditions of Iran’s working class have been dreadfully deteriorating in the past few years. A solid majority of people in Iran now lives  in poverty.  There are unprecedented massive unemployment and underemployment.  Unemployment among youth, the highest percentage of Iran's population, and women is exceedingly high.  The largest part of working class is not covered by unemployment insurance benefits, and for those eligible it is below the poverty line and does not get enforced properly. Average wages are significantly lower than the average costs of living. The rate of inflation is awfully high and nearly all working people have lost their purchasing power, even for basic needs such as food, clothing and housing. Homelessness and malnutrition are ever increasing. According to Iran’s Ministry of Health, more than 20% of Iran’s population does not obtain sufficient food.  Over 1700 manufacturing plants and workplaces with tens of thousands of workforce have either shut down their operations or not been paying wages to their employees in the past 3 to 36 months. Nearly two million immigrant and refugee workers from Afghanistan, Iraq and a few other countries are not covered by any labour law or social security programs and are continuously subject to the racist and discriminatory treatments by employers and government authorities. Gender apartheid against women, and in particular systematic gender discrimination in employment, has created a dreadful condition for working women across the country. At present, women only encompass about 10 percent of employed workers in Iran’s labour market. At the same time, child labour is so ubiquitous in Iran that even the regime’s officials do not deny its existence. According to official reports, about one million and eight hundred thousands children, aged 6 to 14, do not attend schools, mostly due to their involvement in some sort of employment. This, of course, does not include additional number of children that are both working and going to school. All this is taking place while the country is facing outrageous youth unemployment as well as thousands of jobless college and university graduates. Ongoing presence of security and intelligent forces in factories and workplaces and the absence of independent workers’ organizations and lack of the right to strike have created numerous obstacles for workers in their strives to unite themselves in regional and national levels in defence of their rights.   There are concerted efforts by the “Labour House” of the Islamic Republic, and all the “Islamic Workers’ Councils” affiliating with this government-sponsored agency, to control and repress all organizing drives and workers’ activities in different industries. Today, the struggle for the realization of the right to free and independent labour organizations has become an urgent issue and a major challenge within the working class movement in Iran. Although the current situation of the working people in Iran has its own uniqueness in many ways, e.g. considering particular political and social climate within the country; it is simultaneously part of the same worldwide onslaught by the contemporary global capitalism and their governments on workers’ rights and achievements. Unorganized, oppressed, unpaid, without protection and cheap workers are an undeniable part of what they would need to maximize their profits and control. Workers, any where in the world, cannot afford this and thus must confront it strongly and passionately wherever they can.  The International Alliance in Support of Workers’ Struggles in Iran, which has been endorsed by the Canadian Labour Congress and a number of affiliates and national unions including Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers, is working with the Labour Foundation-Iran, an organization founded by a considerable number of recognized Iranian labour activists and leaders in exile in Europe and North America, to launch an international campaign in support of the current struggles and demands of workers in Iran. These demands, among others, include:      Immediate withdrawal of security, military and intelligent forces from all workplaces in Iran      Put an end to resorting to any form of violence against workers’ protests and demands      Immediate payment of all unpaid wages      The unconditional right to organize free and independent Workers’ organizations     The right to strike     To Dispatch an international delegation, composed of representatives from the International Confederation of Free trade Unions, International Labour Organization and a number of acknowledged representatives of Iranian workers in exile, to Iran in order to examine the situation of workers and report their findings to the ILO and the ICFTU memberships for further actions. We call on all concerned individuals and organizations to support