Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane workers form their own trade union

Almost 2000 Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane workers gathered at a general meeting have formed their own trade union.

On 16 June, the 42nd day of their strike, after collected signatures and thumb-prints for processing membership, the workers elected their genuine representatives. According to a former Haft Tapeh worker, the executive committee of the trade union is made up of workers who have been barred from membership of the factory's Islamic labour council because of their labour activities. As a result of this, neither the Islamic labour council nor any other trade organisation has been active in the factory.

The Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane workers' trade union has not been recognised by the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry or the management of this state-owned company (yet, earlier on during the strike, the Labour Ministry and Khuzestan province officials had pretended to welcome the launch of a trade union).

The demands of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane workers are as follows:

• Payment of three months' unpaid wages.
• An end to the gathering of legal dossiers and summoning workers to court.
• Sacking the general manager of the company, a mollah named Yaghoob Shafiee, and the whole management committee.
• Sacking the security chief of the company, a person named Zibdari, who has had a direct role in the beating, spying and gathering of dossiers on workers.

We must keep up the pressure on the management of this state-owned company and the Iranian government the Iranian government to recognise the Haft Tapeh trade union, to stop the repression, to accept all the workers' demands and to drop all charges against them.

Iranian Workers' Solidarity Network
18 June 2008