"Unity Is the Key to Victory"

JANUARY 2021 The pensions Must grows at a higher rate than inflation "Unity is the key to victory" 1 Introduction 3 Government officials refuse to release Covid-19 statistics among workers 4 Statement of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company 5 News 6 -9 Workplace Accidents 10 "Unity is the key to victory" 10 Political Prisoners 11 End the torture of prisoners 12 Contacts 13 2 Introduction Nowadays the Iranian labour movement is the main protest movement against austerity and economic misery in Iran. Everyday struggles against low wages, unsecure jobs, temporary contracts and privatization are the daily events in Iran. Efforts to create non-governmental workers organizations and releasing imprisoned labour activists and teachers are the main struggles of the Iranian worker protest movement. According to everyday strikes and protests numbers, the Iranian worker class is the one of the most active labour movement in the region. We are trying to coverage the most of Iranian workers and teachers protests by publishing the Monthly Karzar. Long live international labour comradeship Campaign in Support Iranian Workers (CSIW) 3 The Government officials refuse to release Covid-19 statistics among workers Even in the days when the government imposed a curfew to "control the corona transmission cycle" and public and administrative premises were closed, production workers were forced to travel and work, and were more at risk than others. Government officials, however, refuse to disclose clear statistics on coro- nary heart disease among workers. Only three provinces in three different time periods have reported the number of workers affected by the disease. Workers in workplaces at short distances are sometimes forced to drop their masks. The Department of Labor does not provide accurate statistics on the number of workers infected with Corona. In Hamedan, 791 workers were reported infected with Corona by the end of October, and 729 workers in North Khorasan on October 13 This statistic, however, includes only workers in production units. In Zanjan, the number of workers involved with the corona has reached about 4,000. On this account, 12.3% of the workers in this province have been caught in Covid-19. A government official in the province, however, did not consider the figures "accurate" and said that even the number of workers killed was more than three. "The coronavirus is 'out of control' in manufac- turing units," he said. "In factories where there are large numbers of workers on the production line, the only means of protect- ing them is a mask, which is usually distributed in large units but not enough for workers to replace it on a daily basis," he said. Labor activists and workers have previously written open letters to government officials asking them to come up with a way to protect their health. A request that has been ignored so far. According to the head of the Health Organization of the Ministry of Oil, 400 workers and employees of this sector have lost their lives. Municipal workers are another group at risk. In Tehran alone, according to municipal officials, more than 2,500 workers and employees of the organization became infected with the Corona virus. This disease has killed 90 taxi drivers in Tehran alone. 4 Statement of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company in support of the nationwide protests of retirees It is stated in this statement: “Since the last two years, inflation has increased and has destroyed up to seventy percent of the purchas- ing power of retirees and workers. The voice of the protests of the minimum wage earners, especially the retirees, has become louder. So that even the formal and coordinated complaints of the workers' house agents and unrealistic representatives could not marginalize the protests of workers and retirees as in previous years.” The statement also referred to the negative role of government organizations in labour protests: “Unfortunately, due to the lack of independent workers’ organizations , the agents of the ‘’Workers' House’’ and ‘’Islamic councils work’’ for nearly thirty years with support of security forces and government have imposed their policy on workers and retirees and using all the resources of workers and pensioners against them. Only a certain number of people who participate in their by-elections and have played a role in suppressing organizations such as the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company are provided of facilities.”-- The Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company announces: ‘’Only through solidarity and organization and the creation of an independent organization for them- selves can Social Security retirees and pensioners escape both the miserable living conditions and the threadbare conspiracies of the employers' agents of the ''Workers' House'' and the ''Islamic Labour Coun- cils'', which are only supporter of the establishment interests. 7 million Iranian workers are not covered by any healt insurance "According to official statistics, there are over seven million official workers in the country who do not have any insurance.Following the outbreak of the corona epidemic in Iran, the number of formal and seasonal workers in the country has increased, which has led to an increase in the number of workers who are not covered by any insurance in the country and many workers who apparently have health insurance are virtually deprived of insurance “ said Shariatmadari, the minister of co-operation, labor and social welfare. 5 NEWS Retirees gather in Tehran January 12 to call of independent pensioners' organizations, retirees have held a protest rally in front of the parliament in Tehran. January 26, 2021, a number of Social Security Organisation retirees held a protest rally in front of the Program and Budget Organization building to protest the non-processing of their demands. The protesting retirees stated that some of their demands were the im- plementation of the law on equalization of salaries, solving the problems of supplementary insurance, paying the end-of-year bonus and calculating the records of hard and harmful jobs in the proportional calculation. Hepco workers protest January 21, Hepco workers gathered to protest the production conditions and the lack of clearing of the company's debts in Arak city. The workers of this industrial unit stated that the reason for this protest was the demand from the officials regarding the clearing of the company's debts and the government's support for resume the production in HEPCO. On same day, the governor had a meeting with the Minister of Labor and the CEO of the Social Security Organization. The workers want to follow up on their demands in this meeting. Hepco workers say that the company's debts must be cleared as soon as possible so that the locks can be unlocked and production can resume. Protest rally of temporary employees of Pars Energy Special Economic Zone Organization The employees held a protest rally on Monday, February 4, to protest against the low wage and the neg- ligence of the National Oil Company and the Ministry of Oil to implement the directives to improve the employment status of the employees. 6 NEWS Continuation of the protest of the workers of Pars Pamchal factory in Qazvin Workers at the Pars Pamchal factory in Qazvin rallied for several days in a row on January 12 to protest the non-payment of their wage claims. The protesting workers have been holding rallies in front of various institutions for several days now, demanding the payment of 4 months 'wages arrears and the payment of 8 months' premiums to the So- cial Security Organization. The arrears of the workers of Pars Pamchal factory have not been paid, which according to one of the workers' representatives: the main problem of this production unit, in addition to wage demands, is the problems that some institutions have created for us a year ago and blocked the factory's export activities. The second day of the zinc miners' strike, Gojar Ravar On January 15, for the second day in a row, workers at the Gojar Ravard mine in Kerman province went on strike to protest low wages and lack of job security. One of the striking workers at the Gojar Ravar mine told a local media reporter: "With 2 children, he receives a salary of 3 million and 200 thousand Tomans(120-150 $) per month." He complains about the high cost of living and this low wages. Job security, as always, is the missing puzzle of workers' lives. According to the same local news source, the managing director of this mine wanted to increase the worker's wages but was opposed by the board of directors. There are even reports of a change of CEO. About 220 workers work in this mine. A mine that has been closed at various times from 2005 to 2015 and has changed 5 CEOs. Private bus drivers strike On the 21st of January, the drivers of the private bus company "Iranian Wireless Bus and Taxi" went on strike all day. Drivers demand payment of wage arrears, transfer of one-third of bus ownership to drivers and pay part of the maintenance costs of the buses by the company. These privatized lines, operate under the auspices of the BRT system and were re- placed after the strike by the system's director and deputy operator, without giving drivers a guarantee that their demands would be met. 7 A mass protest rally of water supply project workers in Sistan plain On January 14th, a group of workers of the Sistan Plain Water Supply Project (Kermanshah's Jihad Nasr Contracting Company) gathered at their workplace to reflect as much as possible their voices against the non-payment of 5 months' wages.

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