After the arrest of Ghorban Alipoor, one of the representatives of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company workers, and the workers' threat to go on strike if their representatives were not released, today, Wednesday 7 November, the majority of the morning shift gathered outside the factory and said they would go on strike until their representative has been set free.
At the same time as this action by the workers, Mohammad Heydari Mehr, the other Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company workers' representative was threatened on the phone, summoned to appear at the Information Ministry office and was arrested there.
The recent arrests follow the attempts by the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company workers to form their own independent trade union.
We, at the same time as declaring our support for the demands of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company workers for forming their own independent trade union, strongly condemn the recent arrests and ask workers' organisations and associations throughout the world and other social movements to support the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company workers.
Co-operation Council of Labour Organisations and Activists
7 November 2007
The Co-operation Council of Labour Organisations and Activists is a united action bloc made up of the following organisations:
Pursuit Committee for the Formation of Free Labour Organisations
Workers' Cultural-Support Organisation
Co-ordination Committee for the Formation of Labour Organisations
Mahmoud Salehi Defence Committee
The Union of Labour Committees
A group of Labour Activists
A group of Iranian University Students Demanding Freedom and Equality
Translated by Iranian Workers' Solidarity Network
Mohammad Heydari Mehr and Ghorban Alipoor have now been released on bail.