A call for solidarity and financial support
By Workers of the Gharb–Baft Carpet Company
Workers of the Gharb–Baft Carpet Company in Sanandaj have been laid off by their employer. Although these workers complained to Labour and Social Affairs Office and won job reinstatement, the security forces called them agitators and forced them out of the factory. Following that, the employer provided fabricated documents and announced the dissolution of the company. Subsequently, the employer appealed the decision of the Labour and Social Affairs Office, as the result of which the *Disputes Board approved the termination of employment of all these workers.
According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Labour Code, the decision of the “Disputes Board shall be final and binding with immediate effect.” This means workers have been left without any legal support. Basically, all the laws have been in favour of the employer.
Workers of Gharb Baft Carpet Company have been without financial support and wages during this time and they are extremely desperate as their rents are not paid and they were not able to afford their children’s back to school supplies and clothes. These fellow workers have called on their colleagues in Iran and around the world to support their struggle for saving their jobs and to secure their most basic needs.
Concerned labour activists and sympathizers are encouraged to provide financial support to Gharb-Baft workers directly by depositing money into their joint account in Iran, which is as follows:
030419702007 Account number:
Type of Account: SIBA
Account names: MR. Saeid Habibzadeh and Mr. Seyed Hassan Vahedi
Bank Melli Iran (BMI), Golshan Branch, Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, Iran
Workers of the Gharb–Baft Carpet Company
Distributed by: The Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organizations
*According to the Sec. 160 of the IRI’s Labour Code, the Disputes Board of a province shall be composed as follows:
- three workers' representatives, to be chosen by the Coordination Centre of the Islamic Labour Councils of the province, or by the Centre of Workers' Guild Societies or by the Assembly of Workers' Representatives of the units of the region;
- three employers' representatives to be chosen by managers of the units in the region;
- three government representatives, namely the Director General of Labour and Social Affairs, the Governor, and the Chief of the Justice Department of the locality or their representatives.
Since there is no independent unions or councils of workers in these dispute boards, as the Islamic labour councils are in fact government-sponsored agents, in reality workers have no genuine voices in these dispute boards whatsoever; furthermore, even if workers were genuinely represented in the dispute boards, since the majority of the board members are the representatives of the anti-worker government and employers, their helpfulness for workers is highly doubtful. (Comments by the translator, IASWI)
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Growing Solidarity and joint actions!
Workers of Gharb–Baft Carpet, Parris Textile and Sanandaj Textile companies have been making coordinated efforts in recent weeks to fight back against lay offs, factory closures and non-payment of wages. They have jointly organized protest actions outside the Kurdistan Governor’s office and the branch of the Ministry of labour in Sanandaj during mid September. They were joined also by Shahoo factory workers and other colleagues in Sanandaj Despite the lack of independent labour organizations, councils or federations, these workers have been able to transform their isolated struggles, organize joint jeneral assemblies and build bridges with their colleagues in other factories, not only in Sanandaj but also in Tehran with Alborz Tire workers, etc.
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Click here for sample protest letter: http://www.workers-iran.org/News/Protest%20against%20the%20outrageous%20whipping%20sentences,%20Aug%202008.htm
For more information, contact [email protected] or [email protected]
International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI)
Background Information: www.workers-iran.org