International Workers' Day was marked by demands such as the right to independent organizations and the release of imprisoned activists from the Sherkat Vahed union, the Iranian Writers' Association, and two imprisoned union activists. Two members of the Sherkat Vahed union were in temporary detention on the day.
A number of members of the Vahed Company workers' union who had participated in the demonstration with their independent slogans during the International Labor Day ceremony in Tehran were attacked by the police. The police arrested two union members, Rasoul Taleb Moghadam and Nasser Moharramzadeh, and held them in custody until the end of the Labor Day ceremony.
This year, due to the leap year, Ordibehesht 11th coincided with April 30th, and as a result, International Labor Day was held in Iran one day earlier than in many countries around the world.
According to Iranian media reports, tens of thousands of Iranian workers participated in the International Workers' Day demonstration at the invitation of the "Workers' House". The workers participating in the demonstration demanded, among other things, "reform of temporary labor contracts, protection of Iranian goods, operationalization of production and the resistance economy, attention to the demands of workers' and teachers' unions, and recognition of the right to freedom of labor union activities."
The plan for the independence of trade unions and the freedom of activists
Some demands that were not raised in the organized demonstrations by the only labor organization authorized in the Islamic Republic were raised by a group of members of the Waheed Company workers' union with their own slogans.
Fair wages, the release of imprisoned labor activists, and the right of workers to have an independent union were among the demands raised by the Vahed Company Workers' Union. According to the Vahed Company Workers' Union website, a number of members of the Vahed Company Workers' Union, who enjoyed the support of a group of students and other workers, participated in the Tehran Labor Day ceremony with their independent slogans and placards bearing the union's logo.
The Iranian Writers' Association also cited serious threats, unemployment, high prices, and widespread poverty that threaten workers' livelihoods in a statement. The association describes itself as representing "workers in the field of thought and writing" and calls for "an increase in wages equal to human living standards, freedom for independent organizations, and the release of imprisoned workers' activists and leaders."
Joint statement by two union activists in prison
On the eve of May Day, Esmaeil Abdi, Secretary General of the Iranian Teachers' Union, and Jafar Azimzadeh, Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Free Workers' Union of Iran, issued a joint statement from inside Ward 8 of Evin Prison.
Esmail Abdi and Jafar Azimzadeh announced that they will go on an indefinite hunger strike starting Friday, May 1, on the eve of International Workers’ and Teachers’ Days. In a letter that each of them sent separately to Evin Prison officials, they stated that their hunger strike is “in protest against the security measures imposed on trade union activities, gatherings and strikes of workers and teachers, wages below the poverty line, the ban on holding independent and free International Workers’ and Teachers’ Days, the lack of transparency and effective action by the International Labor Organization (ILO) regarding the violation of the fundamental rights of Iranian workers and teachers, and with the demand that the charge of “gathering and colluding with the intention of acting against the country’s national security” and other security charges be removed from the open cases of the protesting workers and teachers, and that such false and fabricated charges be removed from their own cases and the cases of other imprisoned labor activists and teachers.”
Esmail Abdi, Secretary General of the Iranian Teachers’ Union, has been sentenced to six years in prison on two charges of “propaganda against the system and society and collusion against national security.” He was arrested on July 26, 2015, after being summoned to the Evin Prosecutor’s Office.
Jafar Azimzadeh, the secretary of the board of directors of the Free Workers Union of Iran, has also been sentenced to six years in prison and a two-year ban on membership in political parties and activities in cyberspace and the media on charges of “gathering and colluding with the intention of acting against the security of the country and disrupting public order.” Azimzadeh went to Evin Prison on Sunday, November 8, 2015, to serve his six-year sentence.
According to the website of the Free Workers Union of Iran, the joint statement by Abdi and Azimzadeh has been welcomed by a large number of Iranian labor and teacher organizations as a united action by representatives of the two classes of workers and teachers.
