Workers' rallies in protest against the Seventh Plan; Reza Shahabi: They unveiled "modern slavery"
A number of workers at the Dorud Cement Factory in Lorestan Province gathered on Tuesday, June 13, to protest the “anti-labor clauses” of the Seventh Development Plan bill. Three days earlier, workers at the Hepco factory in Arak had also gathered to protest the plan.
In this regard, Reza Shahabi, a imprisoned member of the board of directors of the Workers' Union of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, wrote in a statement: "The government has publicly unveiled modern slavery and, in a sense, forced labor camps."
According to ILNA news agency, protesting workers at Durood Cement said: "We believe that if these provisions are approved by the parliament, a large part of the workers' legitimate interests will be targeted."
They added: "For years, under the most difficult conditions, we have worked and paid insurance premiums in the hope of a future and peace for our families, but in disbelief, the government intends to increase the retirement age."
The workers of Durood Cement called on the parliamentarians not to approve this "illegal bill" and to force the government to amend and reform it so that "the working class community can find peace."
Previously, workers at the Hepco factory in Arak gathered on Saturday, June 10, in the premises of this industrial unit and demanded that "the anti-worker clauses of the Seventh Development Plan, especially the notes to Articles 66 and 67 of this plan, be removed."
The protesters were referring to "increasing the retirement age and making the conditions for early retirement for workers more difficult," which they said was "unfair."
According to ILNA, one of the workers said, "The government should not play with the fate of millions of workers like this," and emphasized, "Increasing the retirement age and the anti-worker clauses of the Seventh Plan are against the collective interests of workers and must be eliminated."
The worker called on parliamentarians to "not allow such destructive reforms to be passed."
A number of activists and independent labor and trade union organizations have also strongly criticized the Seventh Development Plan in recent days.
The latest reaction is dedicated to Reza Shahabi, a imprisoned member of the board of directors of the workers’ union of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company. He is serving his sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison, and wrote in a statement released this week: “The scissors of the Seventh Plan have two edges; one is the suppression and elimination of independent labor organizations, and its complementary edge is the further destabilization of the lives and work of the working people, exposing them to maximum exploitation.”
According to the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company Workers' Union channel, Mr. Shahabi pointed out that "the government has publicly unveiled modern slavery and, in a sense, forced labor camps."
This imprisoned labor activist wrote in his statement: "A better future, with job security, welfare, health, treatment, free education, equality and justice in all areas, etc., will be achieved when every profession and class creates its own unions, associations and any independent organizations, and by joining together, pursues and achieves its demands."
He concluded by writing: "Alongside and along with pursuing more radical struggles in favor of the working class, with the limited capacities of the current laws, we must challenge and constrain the Seventh Development Plan and other anti-labor decisions of the government, and not leave today's work entirely to tomorrow."
In response to Article 15 of the program, the Free Union of Iranian Workers called it "an indicator of the extremely anti-worker and inhumane laws of the Islamic capitalist system in Iran."
Article 15 of this program states that in order to remove obstacles affecting the employment of new workers by employers and the development of businesses, as well as attracting newcomers to the labor market, reviving the master-apprenticeship system, and promoting practical on-the-job training in the first three years of employment, there are regulations such as paying one-half of the approved minimum wage and the possibility of unilateral cancellation of the contract by the employer.
Regarding Article 15 of the bill, which relates to temporary contracts with workers, the labor organization wrote: "The employer is easily able to fire workers by using the option to cancel the contract at the end of three years and will not wait until the workers' contract period reaches four years."
The Free Workers Union added: "Article 16 of this bill also emphasizes that employers are allowed to pay individuals with special conditions who are covered by the Relief and Welfare Committee less than the minimum wage approved for the year." According to this clause, individuals introduced by the "Prison Organization" will also be included in this issue.
The Coordination Committee for Helping to Create Labor Organizations also called the Seventh Development Plan "the formalization of modern slavery," adding that this plan "should rightly be considered one of the most important anti-labor bills after the 1979 revolution."
The organization added: "If the working class were forced to forgo basic and essential living expenses and live in permanent poverty and deprivation with the entire minimum wage approved by the Supreme Labor Council, by approving this bill, they would clearly be entering the era of modern slavery. Perhaps with the difference that in the old system of slavery, at least the slave owners were not concerned about providing food and housing."
The Council for Organizing Protests of Informal Oil Workers (Orkan Salesh) also wrote: "The fact that this bill was drafted with the demagogic justifications of reducing government spending, facilitating the recruitment of productive human resources in order to improve the economic conditions of society, and in line with the slogan of resistance economy, is an obvious example of the thinking that considers increasing workers' wages to be the main cause of inflation."
Following the intensifying criticism of the Seventh Development Plan and its being deemed "anti-labor" by labor associations, the Minister of Labor of the Islamic Republic announced the possibility of removing some anti-labor provisions of the Seventh Development Plan.
Sawlat Mortazavi says that "I think Articles 15 and 16 were deleted in the final version of the Seventh Development Plan bill" and "this issue is probably no longer on the agenda."
However, Sawlat Mortazavi's statements have not been confirmed or denied by any other official in the Islamic Republic, especially the Planning and Budget Organization.
The Seventh Development Plan has been formulated for the years 1402 to 1406, consisting of 22 chapters and 7 main sections, and is intended to determine the country's "major strategies for the next five years."
According to ISNA news agency, Davoud Manzoor, head of the Planning and Budget Organization, said that with the implementation of the Seventh Development Plan, within five years, "the desired goals in the areas of food security, reducing inflation to single digits, and economic growth" will be achieved.
