Message from the International Labour Solidarity Committee of the Worker-communist Party of Iran

To the participants at the 2006 May Day rally

We send you and the participants at this magnificent rally our warmest greetings on this international workers’ day.

May Day is an international day of celebration and holiday for workers. However, in Iran and in many other countries workers continue to be persecuted for celebrating this day.

Last year five labour activists in Iran were sentenced to prison terms of from 2 to 5 years - and one to an additional 3 years’ exile - for organising a May Day rally. However, the activists are fighting these outrageous convictions and have appealed to international labour organisations for support.

The workers in Iran are persecuted for going on strike and attempting to form labour organisations. On 28th January, when after repeated protests, the bus workers in the capital Tehran took strike action to press for the release of their imprisoned leaders and the right to organise, the security forces rounded up, beat up and jailed over 1,000 of them. Even children and family members of the bus workers were not spared.

Against this outrage, the international labour movement organised one of the greatest international mobilisations ever. Following a call by Global Unions, on 15th February trade unions and activists around the world held protest rallies outside Iranian embassies in an international day of action on Iran, demanding the release of the jailed workers. Yielding in the end to the mounting pressure, the government in Iran released virtually all the detained workers ahead of the protest. However, the struggle of the bus workers continues: the leader of the union, Mansoor Ossanlou, is still in jail; hundreds of workers have been laid off or formally sacked for taking part in the 28th January strike and their demands for union recognition, collective bargaining and decent pay remain unmet.

Despite this repression, the workers in Iran continue to fight on. Strikes and protests are a daily occurrence. This May Day workers in Iran will hold their gatherings. Just like last year in Tehran, Sanandaj and scores of other cities, they will sing the Internationale at their meetings; they will declare their solidarity with the workers of the world; they will make speeches denouncing capitalism as the root cause of humanity’s hardship; they will talk about freedom, equality, justice, welfare and dignity for all. Indeed, against the background of a looming war between their class enemies, it is these struggles and this voice alone which points the way to a better world. This is a third force and a third camp, which represents the desires of the people of the world for a better world. International solidarity with this movement and this voice is the best way of ensuring that the current crisis in Iran and the Middle East is resolved in favour of a just, free and equal society; in favour of humanity.

Long live workers’ international solidarity!

Long live May Day!

International Labour Solidarity of the Worker-communist Party of Iran
1 May 2006