May Day 2013 Celebration in Iran

Iran Labor Report

Workers in Iran have been barred from holding street rallies in celebration of the workers day since 2007. Aside from the official ceremonies organized by state sanctioned workers organizations, several independent labor organizations celebrated the event under heavy security atmosphere.

This year, similar to the recent past years, an official ceremony was held in a local stadium in Tehran, this year Shahid Motamedi stadium. Official ceremonies attended by 4000 included speeches by Workers House officials.
The coordinators of the thirty thousand workers signature petition organized a gathering by the Iranian parliament. The gathering was participated by the coordinators as well as a number of workers active in the petition drive. The demonstrators held banners highlighting the differences between the ratified 487 thousand tomans minimum wage and the poverty line of one million and five hundred thousand tomans.Vahed Bus Workers Syndicate activists celebrated the workers day with early morning gathering by the bus terminals, distributing pastries and pens with inscriptions of May Day greetings. The union activists drove to Azadi square next, holding banners and took group pictures. The activists finally went to visit with child laborers at an association helping the street children and laborers.May day celebrations were held in the Kurdish city of Sanandaj with about 300 participants. A rally was organized by activists with Coordinating Committee to Help Organize Workers Organizations, Free Union of Iranian Workers and other labor activists in the city. The marchers started from Ghafour neighborhood to the Azadi square. The marchers were faced with special guard unity and security forces. They, however, were able to march to Fajr, Hasan Abad and Ghaem magham Farahani streets in the city. Reports indicate around 16 arrests during the assault.

Coordinating Committee also has reported of a celebration in another Kurdish city of Naghadeh on April 30 by the Committee activists. The ceremony included speeches, songs, poetry recital and distributing pastries.

According to Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA), the Labor House in the Kurdish city of Saghez was barred from holding open labor day ceremonies. According to Seyyed Mohammad Saleh Hosseini, an activist with the Labor House, the organization, similar to the years passed, had asked for permit to hold ceremonial events. However, they had to resort to a closed gathering instead with no participation of workers representatives. He said “holding labor day events with the participation of unrelated administration officials in a closed environment who do not have any information and knowledge on the labor issues and problems has no attraction to the workers”. He criticized the heavy security approach and sensitivity towards the official labor organizations such as Labor House.

Several independent labor organizations also issued statements on the occasion of May Day. Among those are Vahed Bus Workers Syndicate, a joint communique by Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Workers Syndicate, Tehran and Suburbs Mechanical Metal Workers Union and Tehran and Suburbs Painters and Construction Decorative Workers Union Reinstatement Committee, Free Union of Iranian Workers, Workers Rights Defenders Center, Coordinating Committee to Help Organize Workers Organizations, Sanandaj workers, Sanandaj, Mariwan and Sarvabad Bakers Unions as well as Bushehr Sadra Workers which celebrated May Day on strike.