Reza Shahabi and Behnam EbrahimZadeh, two activist workers have issued the
following statement from Evin
prison in Iran
This
year we try to celebrate May 1st, when millions of Iranian
workers are having a very hard life, and like always they are deprived of their
basic rights to protest against these harsh conditions. May 1st is
the time to celebrate the memory of those workers who lost their lives fighting
for eight-hour workday in Chicago
In our country May 1st is 11th of Ordibehesht in Iranian calendar .The Islamic
Republic (IRI) government in Iran does not allow Iranian workers to rally on
this historic day .They deny our rights of having an independent union or syndicate.
Our wages are low and our stomachs are empty. The skyrocketing
inflation has caused an additional economic disaster for us .The IRI officials
rhetoric for helping poor workers is worthless .Although the Islamic Republic has
signed the declaration of human rights (article23) and has ratified International Labour Organization
conventions, ( I.L.O) but they consistently violate the workers’ rights guaranteed
by these international covenants. Based on these international conventions
Iranian workers should be allowed to organize and unionize without the
intervention of governments and employers. But IRI does not allow any form of
protest and even bans the May first rally.
Assault and battery of Tehran Laleh Park
in Tehran is just another example of the daily violation
of human rights in Iran
Iranian workers celebrate May 1st alongside all
the workers of the world and hope that in the future no freethinking worker would
spends time behind bars because of demanding their political and legal rights
anywhere in the world.
We, worker activists, syndicate members on this historical
day ask our demands:
1. We, the imprisoned workers demand the right organize and
operate unions based on the international standards provided I.L.O protocols.
2.
Recognition of our rights to strike, protest and rally, especially for May Day. Creating jobs for unemployed
and ending the unequal pay for women. Banning the hiring of children under the
age of eighteen in the workforce. Wage increases in accordance with the actual
figures, providing job security and abolishing unwritten contracts for
temporary workers.
4. The end of the expulsion, persecution, arrest and illegal
imprisonment of human rights defenders and trade union activists, workers and
all other syndicates and unions.
5. Support of all workers of the world, who are oppressed in
many countries due to imperialistic world economic crisis which has increased
poverty and caused further class division.
At the end, we ask workers and toilers and activists and
popular leaders and humanists to show their solidarity in
May 1st and celebrate this day as magnificent as possible and
support our cause.
Reza
Shahabi &Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, April 29, 2012 ----- Evin Prison, Tehran , Iran
