Interview With Mansour Osanloo

Below is a copy of an interview with Mansour Osanloo that has been posted on the ITF's website. It makes for a very enlightening read abou the situation of the workers in Iran:

Iranian trade union leader Mansour Osanloo has been relentlessly persecuted for his efforts to secure an independent trade union and living wages for bus workers. Yet, as he explained in an interview with Transport International shortly before his latest arrest, he does not see himself as anti-government, and believes there are signs of hope for workers’ rights and freedoms in Iran

Did you expect to leave Iran and travel to London safely?

I was very surprised. I was expecting them to come and take me away right up until the flight took off. Then I finally felt that I was OK. My family and colleague came to the airport with me, then they called me continually until I boarded the airplane to ask where I was and if I was safe.

Why do you think the authorities allowed you to go?

Firstly, after my time in prison, and the 200 hours under interrogation, I think the authorities found out I was not anti-government. Secondly, it may be because of all the support I received from my colleagues in my own union, the support for my freedom.

Thirdly, it may be because of international support, from the ITF to the International Trade Union Confederation. There has been so much action and so many letters sent to the Iranian government.

I think another reason may be the media, including the internet, satellite, all those magazines outside of Iran. And my family at home has received so many phone calls supporting me.
What are conditions like in Iran for ordinary working people?

We are in a very precarious age. So many things are changing in our country. We are in two different periods: dictatorial and democratic. There are also cultural changes in Iranian society at present.


Our society is very complex. And in this complex society we still see a feudal economic norm that belongs to a different period, 300 or 400 years ago. Things are changing, the TV and the radio are transforming society, but there are still peasants who live in that period of time.

How did the movement to reform an independent trade union begin?

Because of eight years of war, dating back to 1980, all trade union organisations were closed down. So many of our trade unionists were arrested, they ran away and they were imprisoned.

After 1990 the new Labour Law was established. Islamic leaders were fundamentally against any industrial congregation. More importantly they were against any type of election in the workplace and they tried to help the government, even the intelligence services. During this period they tried to manipulate any kind of workplace election that did take place.

They created a lot of unhappiness, and this and the fact that they were not the voice for the workers, it gave us a chance to evaluate our ideas.

"Each time I went to court, when the judges saw my case, they said this is not the truth and they freed me"

A few of my friends and I knew many of the old trade unionists and we had many discussions with them about reforming unions in Iran.

We tried to use our own experience. We studied fundamental union rights and tried to interpret those issues to our workers. We went from one bus to another, asking questions and trying to make sure the drivers had somewhere to rest. We put all our ideas together to see how we could make a difference to our co-workers. We thought about the effects of our previous generation, what they did and their experiences and how we could renew them for our own union.

We tried to publish a new magazine. We visited every coffee shop; we talked to every driver while they were driving around Tehran. This was six years ago.

Our situation was known in a wide area. At the end of the period of the previous President, Khatami, we decided it was time for us to organise ourselves, and in 2005 after Ahmadinejad came to power for the first time, we started to show our unhappiness about the situation.

One of our actions involved drivers keeping their lights on while driving passengers around the city. This was a protest at the failure of so-called “workers’ organisations” at the company, and about workplace problems such as low wages and long working hours; the use of outdated buses; drivers’ fatigue caused by heavy road congestion; staff redundancy and management’s corruption.

The same day that they first arrested me, the chief of security in Tehran tried to see how he could bring us to the negotiating table. At this time, we had these negotiations and management promised us they were implementing what we agreed, but they didn’t. And from August to December 2005 they kept arresting me.

Each time I went to court, when the judges saw my case, they said this is not the truth and they freed me, but this continued to happen until the December of that year (when Osanloo was arrested and imprisoned for eight months).

How have you managed to keep going, despite the fear that you must have felt many times?
It’s a necessity, and we decided it is better to die than to live like this.

What are conditions like for the bus workers in Tehran?

The minimum wage for bus workers in Tehran is close to US$100 and with all the subsidies we receive it comes to about US$150. The poverty line is US$400 per month. But even government statistics show that the minimum wage should be US$300 per month.

At the same time, working conditions are very difficult. The air pollution is very bad. Some bus services have been privatised, which means the workers have to ensure they compete with these buses. Another problem is that they are not doing just one job, they have many different jobs: they are the driver, the helper, the ticket collector. Yet more problems are that there are two sections on the bus: the women have to be in one section and the men in another. This is a very difficult working situation for us.
Meanwhile since the industrial action in January 2006, which led to mass arrests and dismissals, 43 workers have been terminated. Six of them are in the mediation process, and four workers have received a “return to work” letter.

Does the union have, and encourage, women members?

We had 200 women workers as part of our union and we fought to get them even US$40 per month for the day care of their children. But after the mass arrests their participation went down.

However our members’ wives are very active. They come to our membership meetings, they listen, and they have a right to give an opinion. And on 8 March we had a press release for International Women’s Day and a ceremony.

Is the union allowed to represent its 7,000 members in any normal ways?

Claiming that we represent 7,000 members is not correct, because we do not yet have a free general membership. We are spokespeople for the workers. We represent their problems and they are with us, but if we were in a free and normal situation I believe that 70 to 80 per cent of the whole workforce of 15,000 would want us to represent them.

For the first general membership meeting we had on the street, thousands of workers came and they even ran away from the police and hid in the alleyway, just so that they could come and join. They knew we had helped to increase their wages by US$50 per month, and had got the provision of work clothes for them. I sit here in front of you and the clothes that I am wearing come from the employers.

The most important thing for us to do was to make the temporary workers permanent, and now at least they have a two-year contract.

Do you believe the bus workers of Tehran will eventually get their free and independent union?

Certainly, I believe that.

But what needs to happen, both inside and outside of Iran, for this to become a reality?

I think continued international support for our efforts is one of the most crucial things for us. People have to know that our government representatives are members of the United Nations body and the International Labour Organization (ILO). This is the most important thing for us. Everywhere we go we talk about ILO conventions 87 (concerning freedom of association) and 98 (concerning the right to organise and to bargain collectively).

But we pay the price for this. In Iran, the people are very suspicious of the situation, because they have heard so many lies. But we are trying to gain their trust. I believe that we have already made progress in achieving this, and we hope we can continue in this direction.

What are the political influences in the country?

The situation we are in is very mixed. The majority of people who are in power come from a military background and they are very conservative, but there are different tendencies. Inside the country, we are fighting for our rights. Parliamentary elections will be taking place in the next few months.

The different tendencies have different interests and a different media, and a few of those media are supportive of our work. For example there are particular newspapers that try to emphasise our needs, and each one represents one part of the tendency of the Iranian government. We hope that all of this together will help to lead us to an independent and free organisation.

There are a variety of different movements in Iran right now. We have a student movement, a women’s movement, a workers’ movement, they are training and educating themselves. They try to work together, directly or indirectly, for solidarity.

Interview by Kay Parris

American Workers 'Most Productive' According to UN Report

Yes, the conservative media have been all over this one today. Fox News has particularly been keen to trumpet these statistics as evidence of the strength of the American workforce. This is, as far as the media are concerned, something to celebrate. From Fox:

American workers stay longer in the office, at the factory or on the farm than their counterparts in Europe and most other rich nations, and they produce more per person over the year.

They also get more done per hour than everyone but the Norwegians, according to a U.N. report released Monday, which said the United States "leads the world in labor productivity."

Wow, don't it make you so proud?? America leads the way in terms of productivity. But what does this actually mean?

Part of the reason why Americans work longer hours is due to a decrease in income. For example, the real value of the minimum wage has decreased from $5.84 in 2000 to $5.15 in 2005 (statistics from Economic Policy Institute - EPI). Consequently, lower income earners have to work longer to make up the shortfall. As well as a decrease in the real value of the minimum wage, there has been a marked decrease in the median family income. In 2000, the median was $55,647, in 2004 it was $54,061 (EPI). That's a decrease of over $1,000 per year. Interestingly, while incomes have generally declined, the main obstacle to wage decreases, the unions, have become almost powerless in the US. Union coverage decreased in 2005 to an all-time low of only 12.5%, down one percentage point since 2000 (EPI).

In contrast to these decreases, the rich have been getting richer. Between 2002 and 2003, the most recent available statistics, the top one percent earned an extra $53,000 (EPI) after tax. The lowest quintile actually saw a $200 decrease. The actual share of the income has also grown dramatically. For 2005, the top fifth took home 50.4% of total income. The bottom fifth only took home around 3.4%. Of course, it goes without saying that the top fifth will be the owners and the bottom fifth the workers. Workers who are, according to the report, working longer than their counterparts in other industrialised nations. This discrepancy in the distribution of income makes another statistic from the report stand out:

The average U.S. worker produces $63,885 of wealth per year, more than their counterparts in all other countries, the International Labor Organization said in its report. Ireland comes in second at $55,986, followed by Luxembourg at $55,641, Belgium at $55,235 and France at $54,609.

The US worker produces more wealth than their counterparts across the globe. They create $63,885 of wealth per year, and yet they see only a tiny fraction of that wealth. Those that do reap the benefits of this world beating level of wealth creation are the rich. In effect, the workers are working harder and longer for less pay, and yet they are creating more wealth which, in turn, ends up not in their pockets, but in the pockets of the top fifth. Yes, American workers are working harder, but they do not see the fruits of their labour. That is the capitalist system. It enslaves the workers to produce more and then takes what they produces and distributes it amongst the rich. And this makes the media proud? I see nothing to be proud of here. Corporate America should be ashamed of the way it steals from the poor and gives to the rich. There is nothing to celebrate in this achievement. America has been hijacked by the rich and Fox News pops open the champagne. Workers of America, your system hates you.

Mansour Osanlou Abducted Again

The BBC has reported that the head of Tehran's transport workers' union, Mansour Osanlou, has been abducted inside Iran. According to his wife he was pulled from a bus by unidentified men on Tuesday evening. The Iranian government has so far refused to comment on the abduction.

This is not the first time that Osanlou has had a run-in with the authorities in Iran. Osanlou was first arrested by the authorities on 22 December 2005, alongside 11 other union officials, in connection with their peaceful trade union activities. On 25 December, members of the union staged a bus strike in solidarity with their colleagues and were promptly arrested. The following day, all those that had been detained by the authorities were released, except for Osanlou and six other members of the Union's executive board. Two days later, the six members were released, leaving Osanlou under Iranian custody. During this period of detention, Osanlou was refused access to a lawyer. He was then held in Evin Prison in Tehran, until his release on 9th August 2006 after payment of bail.

Just three months later, on 19 November, Osanlou was arrested outside his home by members of the security services. On 26 November, he appeared in court where no specific charges were outlined to him. Osanlou appeared without his lawyer present. After his arrest, he was once again detained in section 209 of Evin prison. During his detention, Osanlou was suffering from a serious eye complaint. Prior to his arrest by security services, he was wearing a bandage over his eye as the result of an operation to rectify the problem. It was believed that he had no access to any medical treatment during his detention, despite the seriousness of the condition. After meeting his lawyers on the 11 December, they claimed that:

....his understanding was that he had been arrested because of his trade union activities as well as his contacts with international organizations such as the ILO [International Labour Organization], UN and international labour organizations.

Osanlou was released in August last year and continued his trade union activities as normal. He was subject to continuous harassment by the authorities after his release as a result of his union work. On 8 November, Osanlou and nine other executive members of the union were detained in Tabriz whilst travelling to a conference 'Globalisation and Privatisation'. However, members of the state-run Islamic Labour Councils were free to travel unhindered.

Earlier this year, during the May Day demonstrations, numerous activists were detained and beaten by the authorities. During the demonstrations a small group broke away and started chanting anti-government slogans. Consequently, Intelligence Ministry officials attempted to detain Osanlou once more. On this occasion he managed to escape. Prior to these demonstrations he had been due to give a speech at the Islamic Society of Students about the problems faced by labour organisations. University officials cancelled the talk and it was given at the gates of the university instead.

Clearly, Osanlou is a target of the authorities in Iran. His continued detentions as a result of his trade union work is systematic of the way the Iranian authorities view the trade union movement. Their determination to undermine rights of assembly and the rights for works to organise exposes the true nature of the regime. One hopes that Osanlou is released promptly and that there is an end to his continued persecution. Furthermore, the Iranian regime should allow the work force to unionise and demonstrate freely and without hindrance. Until the regime reverses this trend, it will continue to be considered a state that refuses to acknowledge basic human rights.

Additional information courtesy of Amnesty International:

The Union of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company is said to have been founded in 1979 and resumed activities in 2004 after a 25-year ban. It is still not legally recognised.

Iran is a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 22 (1) of which states: Everyone shall have the right to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests. Article 26 of Iran’s Constitution states: The formation of parties, societies, political or professional associations … is permitted provided they do not violate the principles of independence, freedom, national unity, the criteria of Islam, or the basis of the Islamic republic. No one may be prevented from participating in the aforementioned groups, or be compelled to participate in them.

Private Equity - Another Blairite Legacy?

Tony Blair recently claimed that:

"Britain is one of the number one places in the world for private equity, and I think the private equity market brings a lot of benefits to our economy".

Read this article by John Harris in today's Guardian, to see why private equity is so destructive. This is just the latest in a long list of examples of the Labour Party abandoning the working classes in favour of the forces of capitalism.

For All You Asda Fans

Remember, Wal-Mart is Asda's parent company:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. watchdog group has called on Wal-Mart Stores to put a stop to what it says is worker abuse at a factory in the Philippines that makes apparel for the retailer.

The Worker Rights Consortium said the Chong Won factory, which primarily makes clothing for Wal-Mart supplier One Step Up, has engaged in labour rights violations including forced overtime and minimum wage violations. The WRC has 167 U.S. college and university affiliates.

The WRC has accused the factory's management of colluding with government agents in violence against striking workers and said it based its charges on an on-site investigation from October 28 to November 2. WRC said it notified Wal-Mart in November.

Another reason not to shop at Asda.