If you could sign this letter this would be greatly appreciated. All correspondence to: iranwsn@yahoo.co.uk

To Juan Somavio, the Director-General of the International Labour Organisation

As you are aware, during the past year the situation of Iranian workers has deteriorated daily.

The following are a few cases:

1- The increase in the number of temporary contracts which presents workers with an uncertain future employment in the future and deprives them of the rights mentioned in the Labour Code.

2- The introduction of the law excluding workshops with five or less workers from the remit of the Labour Code officially deprives workers of these units from having the basic social guarantees and rights of the Labour Code.

3- Unpaid wages in many factories, sometimes for as much as 32 months, seriously jeopardise the ability of workers and their families to afford their daily bread.

4- The widespread job losses, which darken and make uncertain the future of many workers, are taking place under conditions when the jobless and sacked workers do not receive any unemployment insurance.

Under such conditions a wave of workers’ protests for confronting this situation has formed during the recent months. The latest of these was the peaceful protest march of the Baresh Textiles in Esfahan on May Day 2001. Their rally for receiving their unpaid wages was brutally suppressed by the anti-riot police, resulting in 50 textile workers from Baresh being arrested and more than 20 being injured.

We the signatories of this letter demand that the ILO put the Iranian government under pressure so that it recognises the rights of workers and releases those arrested during recent events.

Nader Shakiba, spokesman of Workers’ Independent Union of Iran
14 May 2001

email : kanoonkargari@yahoo.co.uk

Academics and critics:
Noam Chomsky, MIT Professor - USA
Dr Esmail Nooriala, poet and literary critic
Dr Hamid Hamid, university lecturer - USA
Howard Zinn, historian - USA
David Barsamian, producer of Alternative Radio - USA

Trade unions, trade unionists and local organisations:
Nigel Pearce (NEC, National Union of Mineworkers, personal capacity) - Britain
Phil Waker (NEC, Communication Workers Union, personal capacity) - Britain
Jeremy Dear (National newspapers’ organiser, National Union of Journalists, personal capacity) - Britain
Sean O’Quinn, Member United Food Commercial Workers Local 400 - USA
Boulder County Labour Council AFL-CIO - Boulder, USA
Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center - Colorado, USA
Khalil Vermezyari, Vice President CUPE Local 2497 - Toronto, Canada
Alex Grant, President, Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 2278 - Canada
Central Committee of the Students’ Committee to Defend State Education, CEDEP - Mexico
Struggle Committee of the High School of Mechanical and ElectricalEngineering, CLESIME - Mexico
Francisco Lara, Tenants Organisation, UVVAC - Mexico
Federico Cortes Corona, member of the Mexican Electricians Union, SME - Mexico
José Luis Aguilar, Tenants Organisation Colonia La Estrella, Ecatepec - Mexico
Ramon Campos, member of the trade union of the Mexican Postal Service - Mexico
Miriam Municio, general secretary Spanish Students Union - Spain
XAQUIN G» SINDE, member of the Regional Executive Committee of CCOO (Workers Commissions union) in Galicia - Spain
José R. Rico and Arturo Llago, members of the Executive Committee of the CCOO shipbuilding workers branch in Ferrol - Spain
Khalid Bhatti, national organiser Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign - Pakistan
Sara Parlavecchia, Comittee to Defend State Education, CSP, national leadership - Italy

Political groups, organisations and activists:
A. Holberg, Communist Organisation for the Fourth International (KOVI-BRD) - F.R. Germany
Editorial Board Marxist magazine Socialist Appeal (www.socialist.net) - Britain
Editorial Board "In Defence of Marxism" (www.marxist.com) - Britain
Espe Espigares, British organiser, Youth For International Socialism (www.newyouth.com) - Britain
Peter Johnson, national organiser, Youth For International Socialism (www.newyouth.com) - United States
Editorial Board L’Humanite - Canada
Gernot Trausmuth, Editorial board of "Der Funke" - Austria
Eva Nesensohn, chairwoman of the Young Socialists Vorarlberg - Austria
Tanja Kreinbucher and Manuel Kaufmann, Executive Committee of the Young Socialists - Austria
Editorial Board of Militante newspaper - Mexico
Rosalba Ramos, Rank and File Insurgent Movement, Party of the Democratic Revolution, PRDÊ - Mexico
Carlo del Angel, Committee for the Socialist Youth, Party of the Democratic Revolution, PRD - Mexico
José Luis Ruiz, member of the PRD, Neza - Mexico
Ricardo Nataren Delgado, PRD Committee, Pijijiapan, Chiapas - Mexico
Amauri Solis, PRD Committee Las Margaritas, Pijijiapan, Chiapas - Mexico
Editorial Board Marxist paper El Militante - Spain
Tzolis Hristos: Member of PASOK (Greek Socialist Party) YOUTH Central Committee - Greece
Kanelopoulou Asimina: Member of PASOK YOUTH Central Committee - Greece
Dafnis Stelios: Member PASOK YOUTH Central Committee - Greece
Tsitonis Takis: Member PASOK YOUTH Central Committee - Greece
Karagianopoulos Stamatis: Member of Athens PASOK YOUTH Committee - Greece
Kanelopoulou Christina: Member of Athens PASOK YOUTH Committee - Greece
The Editorial Board of the Danish Social-Democratic paper Socialistisk Standpunkt - Denmark
Claudio Bellotti (Party of the Communist Refoundation, PRC, National Leadership member) - Italy
Gabriele Donato, Alessandro Giardiello, Jacopo Renda, Giuseppe Letizia (PRC National Political Cte. members) - Italy
Antonio Forlano (member of the leadership of the Filt-Cgil union in Milan) - Italy
Dario Salvetti (National Coordination of Communist Youth) - Italy

Iranian Workers’ Solidarity Network
http://iwsn.topcities.com
iranwsn@yahoo.co.uk
25 May 2001