More than 8500 workers at Iran Khordo Industrial Group have been on strike since 28th June demanding better wages and working conditions. Since then 3500 more workers have joined the strike. The strike was met by police intervention and threatening treatment by the security forces based at the factory. So far 7 workers have been arrested.
Workers’ demands are:
- Freedom of labour organisations and an end to the use of security forces by management;
- The abolition of compulsory over-time;
- Night shift pay should be double and not12% as it is now;
- Abolition of work on Fridays (weekend in Iran);
- Increase of the productivity benefits; workers should receive a share of profits;
- Inflation based wage increases;
- And end to temporary contracts which needs to be replaced by permanent posts;
- An end to the expansion of subcontracting companies; all workers should be employees of Iran Khodro Car Company;
- Participation of workers’ representatives in committees deciding job classifications;
- Participation of workers’ representatives in the hard and hazardous work committee;
- Reduction of pressures at work by employing more workers.
Workers at Iran Khodro plant work under very hard conditions with the constant fear of losing their jobs. Many have been employed as contractors for many years with no job security. They work long hours and are forced to do night shifts and are not paid appropriately for unsociable hours. Workers went on strike in June to protest against these harsh working conditions. Soon after the strike the chairperson of “Harasat” (state security office in the factory) issued a statement claiming that the strike and hunger strike was organised by “counter revolutionary” left organisations including Worker- communist Unity Party. In this statement “Harasat” asked workers to spy on their colleagues and report any such activities to the authorities.
Despite all the threats and intimidations, workers have not retreated from their strike; they have actually increased the intensity of the strike. The fact that the management with the backing of “Harasat” is asking workers to spy on each other demonstrates the fear they face from workers’ united rank. They know that workers do not spy on each other. Their statement is more directed towards the secret police and the employers in order to warn them of the extend of left ideas and influence within the industrial sector in Iran. It is a reflection of their fear of the radical and united force of workers which is currently on the increase.
To disperse workers, break their unity and create obstacles for workers’ strike action, the management (together with Harasat) has used many tactics such as preventing the workers to get on the service buses and has stopped workers from contacting each other during lunch break and even toilet visits. The whole factory has been turned into a concentration camp full of security forces. In a statement workers have said: “The presence of Harassat (factory based state security) and threats against workers is contrary to regulations of the International Labour organisation and contrary to basic human rights. The right to strike, to achieve minimum demands is the right of every human being.”
Worker-communist Unity Party supports the strike and has called upon workers at the subsidiary factories, Workers at the Industrial Road of Tehran, and other sectors to support and join their fellow workers for better working conditions. The Islamic Republic of Iran, its security forces together with the employers have made life a hell for the working class in Iran. Iran Khodro workers’ strike is just the tip of the iceberg. Workers in Iran united can change the system for a better world.
