Two global labor bodies filed a joint complaint to the International Labor Organization over the “continued campaign of terrorizing” members of Sherkat-e Vahed, a bus drivers’ union in Iran.
In the complaint, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) describe in stark detail how the drivers’ attempts to form a union were met with “determined—and often extremely brutal—repression from employers, security forces, and official labor organizations.” Anti-union tactics included forced transfers, frequent interrogations, threatening phone calls, overtime cancellations, demotions, suspensions, firings. The union’s founding meeting was violently broken up by 300 members of the government-sanctioned Workers Organization, who smashed doors and windows, tore up documents, and attacked union members. Mansoor Osanloo, later elected president, was hospitalized with severe knife wounds.
As an ILO member, Iran is bound to respect
fundamental worker rights, including workers’ right to form and join unions. Since its establishment as an independent trade union in 2005, however, the 17,000-member union, known as Vahed, has been subjected to an ongoing government campaign of harassment, arrests, and physical attacks. Many union leaders have been repeatedly arrested and jailed. Union President Osanloo has been behind bars since his arrest on December 22, 2005. During most of that time he has not been allowed access to his attorneys, his family, or his colleagues, and his state of health is a major concern.
Vahed has continuously campaigned for Osanloo’s immediate and unconditional release. On January 28, 2006, some 1,300 drivers were arrested after police brutally cracked down on a planned strike that had been called to protest Osanloo’s detention. On February 15, thousands of worker and human rights activists worldwide joined an International Day of Action on Iran to demand Osanloo’s release and respect for Iranian bus drivers’ worker rights.
On May 1, International Labor Day, the Vahed union joined the ITF, whose 624 affiliates represent 4.5 million transport workers in 142 countries. On that day, more than 1,000 police disrupted a peaceful rally of about 250 Vahed drivers and supporters in front of company headquarters in Tehran, arresting more than a dozen. The number might have been greater, but the intimidating police presence had kept demonstrators away. By May 6, most of those arrested had been released. But the bus company continues to threaten union sympathizers with firing; many drivers have been out of a job for months.
“The Iranian government is mistaken if it believes that a continued campaign of terrorizing the Sherkat-e Vahed workers will stifle either their resolve to fight for the fundamental right to belong to a union of their choice, or the international trade union movement’s resolve to support them in that fight,” said ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder. “We will continue raising the plight of these workers with all the relevant authorities and applying pressure wherever possible to convince the Iranian government to respect workers’ rights."
Learn more
Read the ICFTU/ITF press release in English and Farsi
Read the full complaint in English and Farsi
Read the Washington Post article about the February 15 Day of Action on Iran
Download the Solidarity Center press release in English and in Farsi
Background and strike chronology
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689
February 1 letter from AFL-CIO President John Sweeney in English and in Farsi
March 20 letter from President Sweeney
