Major Trade Union Federations Call on Iran to Release Detained Workers’ Rights Activists

CHRI – The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) have called on Iranian authorities to release detained workers’ rights activists and journalists including Esmail Bakhshi and Sepideh Qoliyan.

Letters by the ITUC and AFL-CIO were sent to Iranian leaders one month after a group of Haft Tappeh sugar mill workers in the city of Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, submitted an official complaint to the International Labor Organization (ILO) about the ongoing suppression of protests there and detentions of peaceful demonstrators and journalists covering the protests.

“We urge the Iranian authorities to drop charges and release the detained trade unionists in line with the recommendations of the Committee on Freedom of Association of the International Labor Organisation,” said the AFL–CIO in a letter addressing Iran’s Ambassador to the UN Majid Takht Ravanchi. “In addition, we call on your government to ensure full payment of wages and benefits to all current and retired Haft Tappeh workers; recognition of the union as the workers’ legal representative; reinstatement of all unjustly terminated workers; and the company’s return to government ownership.” The ITUC’s letter has not yet been made public.

Detailed information about these letters can be found in this article by Khosrow Semnani.