Rouhani’s Campaign Promise: We Will Withdraw the Labor Law Bill

Hassan Rouhani promised to withdraw the labor law reform bill from parliament. Labor activists consider this bill to be harmful to workers’ job security. Rouhani’s speech was met with protest slogans from a group that the ILNA news agency called “disruptors”.

Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran, promised on the fourth day of his presidential election campaign that he would withdraw the labor law reform bill from parliament.

According to Iranian media reports, in Hassan Rouhani’s speech at the Workers’ Day ceremony on Monday (May 1st), Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ali Rabiei, Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, Mohammad Nahavandian, Chief of Staff of the President, Alireza Mahjoub, Tehran’s representative in parliament and Secretary-General of the Workers’ House, and Mohsen Hashemi, son of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani were present.

Failed “Disruption” During Rouhani’s Speech

According to ILNA labor news agency, “more than 30,000 workers” attended this ceremony held at the mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini. According to the same news agency, Hassan Rouhani’s speech was met with protest slogans from a “small number” of people.

ILNA wrote: “This grand ceremony, which was held with the reception of tens of thousands of workers, was not to the liking of some people present at the ceremony who were affiliated with a particular political movement, and these limited and small-numbered individuals, whose affiliation with certain movements was beyond doubt, intended to disrupt today’s grand ceremony by starting to chant slogans that not only were not welcomed by the 30,000-strong crowd of workers present at the ceremony, but they also protested the out-of-order behavior of this small group and asked them to respect the dignity of the ceremony’s speaker and other workers”.

This is while media close to conservative circles have spoken of “severe criticism and protest from workers” present at this ceremony regarding the performance of the eleventh government. Tasnim and Nesim Online news agencies, among others, by publishing audio and video files and based on them, reported that “workers at this ceremony with slogans of ‘Today is a day of mourning / today is a day of mourning / the life of workers / faces extinction today’ and ‘Today is a day of mourning / today is a day of mourning / the worker community is mourned today’ expressed their protest against the performance of the eleventh government”.

Tasnim wrote: “After Rouhani’s speech ended, the program host called the protesting workers, who were demanding their legal rights, ‘mercenaries’ and threatened to break their jaws”.

Withdrawal of the “Bill” Due to Workers’ Discontent

Following these protests, which according to domestic media reports caused a temporary halt to the ceremony, Rouhani resumed his speech. He said: “A bill that was prepared for labor in the previous government, according to the labor minister’s statement, is not satisfactory to workers, therefore I ordered preparations to be made to withdraw it, and today I announce to the workers that we will withdraw this bill from parliament”.

The President of Iran added: “When Rouhani speaks of security, the first meaning of it is job security. The worst insecurity is job insecurity, and therefore we must strive to put workers’ lives on the right path”.

Workers’ organizations believe that the labor law reform bill, which was submitted to parliament in July of last year (2016), would endanger workers’ job security if passed. Workers and workers’ organizations, while calling this bill “anti-worker and defective,” have expressed their opposition to it in protest gatherings.

According to critics, severe job insecurity, the removal of age requirements for apprenticeship, the risk of wage freezing and mass layoffs are among the likely consequences of the passage of the labor law reform bill.

The request to withdraw the labor law reform bill was also raised before Rouhani’s speech by Alireza Mahjoub, Tehran’s representative in parliament. Mahjoub, as the first speaker of the Workers’ Day ceremony, said: “The workers’ community is demanding the return of the labor law bill from parliament in support of workers. This bill reduces workers’ sense of security and their livelihoods. We expect you to take action to return it”.

The Secretary-General of the Workers’ House added: “Your attention to reducing stagnation alongside inflation gives us hope that the continuation of your presidency will lead to increased production and prosperity and improvement of workers’ lives”.

Prevention of Workers’ Gathering in Front of Parliament

Simultaneously with Hassan Rouhani’s speech and his promise regarding the withdrawal of the labor law reform bill, news also emerged of failed attempts by workers to hold a protest gathering in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly.

According to ILNA, today a gathering of “a group of Tehran workers” in front of parliament on the occasion of International Workers’ Day was prevented. These workers had placards with the content “wage increases, cancellation of temporary contracts and freedom of labor activity”.

According to some media reports, this workers’ gathering was called by the Free Union of Iranian Workers, but security and police forces prevented it from taking place.

This is while Amnesty International, on the eve of International Workers’ Day, in a statement called for an end to the suppression of independent workers’ organizations and criticized the imprisonment and issuance of prison sentences for several labor activists in Iran.

The human rights organization asked the Islamic Republic to release those arrested for peaceful union activities without condition and to overturn harsh sentences issued against other activists.

This statement also called for an end to the suppression of independent workers’ unions and asked Iranian authorities to give labor activists the right to hold gatherings and membership in labor unions.

Amnesty International’s statement named several activists who are in prison for union activities. Ismail Abbadi, a teacher and member of the board of directors of the Teachers’ Association of Iran, and Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, member of the follow-up committee for establishing workers’ organizations, are among these activists who have been sentenced to 6 and 13 years in prison, respectively.

Amnesty International also named Mahmoud Beheshti Langarudi, Mohammad Reza Niknejad, and Mehdi Behluli, members of the board of directors of the Teachers’ Association of Iran, Mahmoud Salehi, member of the follow-up committee for establishing workers’ organizations, Davoud Razavi, Ibrahim Madadi, and Reza Shahabi, members of the Syndicate of Bus Drivers of Tehran and Suburbs, and Jafar Azim Zadeh and Shapour Ehsaniraad, members of the Free Union of Iranian Workers, who face the threat of summons and imprisonment.

These individuals were previously imprisoned on charges such as “action against national security,” “propaganda against the system,” and “disruption of public order” and were released on bail and temporarily.

Source: DW