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13 August, 2007
The 9 August, International Day of Action to free Iranian trade unionists Mansoor Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi produced protests in 34 nations, with hundreds of protest letters posted demanding their release.
In Iran on 9 August, supporters of free trade unions who attempted to assemble in protest at the Tehran home of Mansoor Osanloo, leader of the Sherkate Vahed bus drivers’ union, were met by armed state security agents, positioned to prevent any demonstration or dissent concerning his 10 July arrest. Iranian secret police also arrested five executive board members in the hours before worldwide protests began.
The International Day of Action was called by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF). Osanloo was arrested following a European labour tour and an appearance at the ILO’s June International Labour Conference. Salehi, a co-founder of the Saqez Bakery Workers’ Association, was arrested last April for trade union activities.
9 August: In front of Iran Embassy, Brussels
Demonstrations, delivery of protest letters and petitions occurred in many world capitals, including London, Brussels, Paris, and Canberra, Australia. In Geneva, a delegation of trade union leaders from the ITUC, Public Services International (PSI), Union Network International (UNI), International Food, Agricultural Workers’ Association (IUF), and the coordinator of the Global Unions Council did meet with the Iran’s ambassador at the country’s mission.
But in most capitals, Iranian embassy officials refused to meet with trade union leaders. Demonstrators chanted and, in some cases, forced letters and petitions through fences at barricaded embassies. In London, scores of unionists rallied at Iran’s embassy in Knightsbridge and presented a petition with 3,000 names demanding the release of Osanloo and Salehi.
Speaking at the rally upon hearing the news of the other union arrests in Iran, ITF General Secretary David Cockroft said, “If the Iranian government wants to know why workers worldwide are putting them under pressure, they’ve just supplied the answer. Our demand is a reasonable one … the basic right to join a union. The government’s clumsy, brutal attempts to stifle it are just making it heard more widely and strongly.”
In Brussels, 60 unionists that included staff from the ICEM turned out in a pouring rain to protest. In Paris, trade unions CFDT, CGT, FO turned out members to protest at Iran’s embassy. In Canberra, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) was joined by Iranian exiles in seeking the release of the two being held in Iran.
9 August: ICEM staff protests it Iranian Embassy
A mass demonstration occurred at Queens Park at Canada’s parliament in Ottawa; in Vienna, Austria, a bus was used by VIDA and the Transport and Services Union tom deliver protest letters to Iran’s embassy; in Spain, UGT and CC.OO teamed up to deliver the petition to Iran’s embassy in Madrid; in Bucharest, Romania, the union Federatia Sindicala Transloc picketed the embassy there; and other actions on 9 August happened in Norway, Sweden, and Finland.
In Trinidad and Tobago, the Seamen and Waterfront Workers’ Union held a press conference; in India, trade unions NUSI and TDWU held protests; and in Indonesia, 300 transport workers gathered at the Iranian embassy in Jakarta to demonstrate.
Other actions occurred in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia. In Egypt, the General Union of Land Transport Workers and the General Union of Air Transport Unions delivered a letter to Iran’s embassy. A letter was also delivered by Jordanian unions to Iran’s embassy in Amman, while in both Morocco and Tunisia, demonstrations were held at Iranian diplomatic missions.
The date of 9 August was chosen because it is the one-year anniversary of Osanloo’s release from jail in 2006, which came about through mass global trade union protests. Osanloo has now been incarcerated three times for his trade union activities in Iran.