11 February, 2008
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) are calling for another “Day of Action” on 6 March 2008, demanding the release of two trade unionists locked inside Iran’s prisons. The two global federations are calling on trade unions worldwide to lobby their relevant governments, as well as public officials, regarding visits to Iran in order to win the release of the two trade unionists.
The ICEM joins the ITUC and ITF in demanding the release of Mansour Osanloo, the leader of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Workers’ Union, and the release of Mahmoud Salehi, the founding member of the Saqez Bakery Workers’ Association.
ITUC and ITF chose the date of 6 March because it is just prior to Iran parliamentary elections, as well as the Iranian New Year.
Osanloo was arrested for the third time on 10 July 2007, following a tour of European labour institutions and labour unions, in which he spoke of the labour abuses and restrictions on freedom of association by Iran’s Islamic regime. He was taken from Evin Prison on 24 January to a hospital where he underwent a second surgery for an eye disorder, an injury caused by beatings from government agents.
Despite doctors recommending that he remain in the hospital for a month, he was returned to the harsh conditions of Evin Prison on 2 February. The ITF’s website page on Osanloo can be found here www.freeosanloo.org.
Mahmoud Salehi, an Iranian Kurd, is also in ill-health, suffering from kidney disease. He also had to be hospitalized in December 2007. He was arrested for union activities in April 2007.
Already last week, the Indonesian Seafarers Union, an ITF affiliate, has written to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, urging him to cancel a planned trip to Iran in protest to the incarcerations, or face harsh political reprisals both at home and abroad.
The ICEM strongly encourages affiliated trade unions to take meaningful action on 6 March.