Fourth Day of Haftappeh Sugarcane Workers’ Protests Against Dismissals and Police Suppression
A strike by workers at Haftappeh Sugarcane Company that began on September 1st has entered its fourth day amid police presence and suppression of workers. The Telegram channel of the Haftappeh Sugarcane Company Workers’ Syndicate reported on the fourth day of Mehr month that they were “witnessing a police atmosphere of intimidation and suppression of workers.”
These workers have been protesting since the first of Mehr month and have refrained from work in response to the dismissal of 20 of their colleagues, refusing to work. Their demand is the reinstatement of their dismissed coworkers. The Haftappeh Sugarcane Workers’ Syndicate stated in its channel that it strongly condemns any threats, intimidation, and summons of workers in connection with their labor protest. The Haftappeh Sugarcane Workers’ Syndicate reported that during these threats, one worker named “Yousef Bahmani” was summoned by the intelligence department.
ILNA news agency reported on the third day of Mehr month that the number of protesting workers at this factory was “around 300” people.
While the protests of Haftappeh Sugarcane workers continue, ILNA news agency reported on the third day of Mehr month that the protests ended on the evening of the second day of Mehr and workers returned to work the following day, whereas according to reports from the factory’s syndicate, the protests continue on their fourth day. The Telegram channel, criticizing the spread of false news by ILNA news agency, wrote: “This news agency lacks credibility in reporting labor news due to factional interests.”
On August 22nd, 20 workers at Haftappeh Sugarcane were dismissed through a letter, and from the following day until now (over four days), hundreds of workers at this factory have stopped working and staged protests in the factory premises in response to the dismissal of their colleagues.
The names of these dismissed workers, according to information from the Haftappeh Sugarcane Workers’ Syndicate, are: Mohammad Khanifer son of Qasem 2_Mohammad Khanifer son of Hamid 3_Reza Pour Chanani 4_Saheb Zahiri 5_Mahmoud Saadi 6_Adel Abdolkhani 7_Mohammad Abdolkhani 8_Samir Ahmadi 9_Hamzeh Al-Kathir 10_Iman Akhzari 11_Karim Miahi 12_Fazil Chaabi Zadeh 13_Ashkan Goodarzi 14_Masoud Louymi and 6 others.
Mohammad Khanifer is one of seven defendants in the Haftappeh protests case who was sentenced to six years in prison by Judge Abolqasem Selavati.
In recent years, Haftappeh Sugarcane workers have repeatedly protested against non-payment of their wages and benefits. One of these protests, which lasted several days in late November 2018, resulted in the arrest of numerous workers and labor activists and heavy prison and whipping sentences. Currently, seven workers and labor activists remain in Qarchak and Evin prisons awaiting final sentencing.
Source: Human Rights Campaign
