No 57 15th Feb In this Issus:

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1 No 57 15th Feb In this Issus: - Brutal attack of Special... P. 1 Brutal attack of Special Forces - The Haft Tapeh Sugarcane... P. 2 and Polic to Striking Workers of - We support the strike of the P. 4 Haft Tape Sugar Cane Company - The Joint declaration P. 4 - Declaring support of:... P. 6 February 4 - On the fifth day of the strike of the Haft Tape - Resumption of protests by P. 6 Sugar Cane workers, small groups of agricultural workers - Protest Rally of Workers of P. 7 came to the factory in front of the factory to join their colleagues, where they faced with a number of Special Guard troops and they were attacked., Many of the workers turned their motorcycle towards sugar cane fields to avoid being arrested, but they were fpursued by special forces and eventually detained, some of these workers were beaten, including some tractor drivers. After brutal attack on the strikingr workers of the Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Company, Special Forces closed down all the main gate of entrance and exit of the factory and detained a number of workers, and their representatives, inside the factory, including Ismail Bakhshi and Keramat Pam and Ghorban Alipour. In the course of this brutal attack on the strikers of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company, about 40 of them were arrested, which 23 of them, including their representatives, Ismail Bakhshi and Keramat Pam were hand chaffed and chained by feet from the Haft Tapeh checkpoint to the headquarters of Police station, which is located in the township of Daniel, in the vicinity of the city of Shosh. They are being held in a 12-meter cell prisont and under unbearable strict conditions and they are being interrogated by security forces. The employees of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company are cleverly aware that organizing police and security strike against them today, is aimed at breaking their strike and for not paying their wage arrears, so that the employer and his agents can put the subject of the release of arrested workers as a bargaining deal on their freedom, so that thousands of workers of the Haft-Tape Sugar Cane Company continue to work without paying wages and by hungry belly. Despite the implementation of premediated scenario by Kazemi and using people because of being the native to the population, the workers of the Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Company are determined to continue their strike and protests, due to the serious concern about the failure to pay nearly four months' wage arrears and other demands, Despite any disruption in their protests, they will continue their strike until the release of their detained colleagues and the fulfilment of their demands.

2 Alternative Workers News-Iran No P. 2 The arrested workers of Haft Tape Sugar Cane Company were released According to reports, all detained workers of the Haft Tape Sugar Cane Company were released. The sharp and smart workers of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company know that the brutal attack of today's special guard and the arrest of dozens of workers were a pre-designed scenario by the employer, with the complicity of the officials in Shosh, to divert workers demand from the payment of arrears of the Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Company to the release of their arrested associates and the release of the arrested workers for ending the strike without paying any money to the workers. Workers of the Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Company on the seventh day of their strike prevented the exit of the sugar carrier trailers from the factory Today, on Monday, February 6th, on the seventh day of the workers' strike of the Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Company, agricultural workers walked to the company yard, despite the deployment of security forces around the factory to prevent them from entering the company and continued their protests in While domestic workers also joined them, they moved to the factory s furnace, but the locally-based enforcement forces prevented them from entering the factory furnace area. The workers of the Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Company stopped strike after the seven days of the strike, after receiving their wage payments for November 2017, and the employer's commitment to pay the month of December on following Monday. The strike workers of the Haft Hills Sugar Cane Industry Complex this morning Febuaryr 5th, due to the payment of November wage, and to the remain largely official employees and other workers, as well as the mediation of enforcement guards, and the vice president's commitment to pay their December arrears by next Monday, so that, the workers ended their strike. According to workers from the Haft Tape Sugar Cane Company, from this morning, sugar packets weighing 25 kg to given to workers with thousand Toman ($ ) cash as being paid annually to workers customary. Workers of the Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Company have announced that they will resume their strike immediately if the employer goes against their promise for paying on Monday. The Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Workers Syndicate continue their resistance and struggle to a new stage Over the past ten years, the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane workers have not received at least three months of their wages and allowances. The country's economic and managerial crisis has had a devastating effect on the lives of workers. The Haft Tappeh workers today are in fluctuating slavery, the factory produces sugar, but the workers don t have job security, wages and timely benefits, more than half of the seven-

3 Alternative Workers News-Iran No P. 3 tier cane workers are contracted and Permanent workers also have no hope of the future. The Haft Tappeh retirees are in a much worse situation, and their constant protests is continuing. Why is this coming: the military-affiliated power agencies have been working hard over the past few years to make this economic complex, called the green and popular economy in the world, to land similar to other parts of the southern region to extract gas and oil. Major protests in the country: The protest of the unemployed and the hungry over the past month in Iran has been an example of the Haft Tappeh crisis, more than a hundred of the Haft Tappeh workers have been arrested in the last few months, and dozens are interrogated every time, and life Many Haft Tappeh labor activists are under the magnitude of the security forces. The Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Workers Syndicate has tried over the past ten years to be spokeperson for reflecting the workers' protests and at the same asking other world labor organizations to pressure government for making the workes life better. The syndicate has been s able to move on three levels with its own struggles. A. The existence of an independent labor organization is our right, as well as preventing the persecution of labor activists and the release of imprisoned workers and their return to work. B-we must oppose and inform against the plan by security forces to replace the factory by an oil & gas refinery C - We must continue Workers' struggles and advance it according to the specific conditions of the Haft Tappeh. We must always demand the autonomy of the workers, and we have looked at the issue of public ownership, May be one day workers of the Haft Tappeh could manage the factory themselves. the Haft Tappeh company. We have to always demand self-management, and by this wiew, we put forwaerd public ownership against private oqnership, and history will shpw the day that workers will hold the mangerial control of.workers duty: we struggle for the interest and improvement of workers life, and labour desipline is one of the basic principale of this struggle. We have to struggle together and in a collective manner. There is no doubt that many youths are under severe pressure. Based on this situation, we suggested the slogan of permanent job and public ownership. We should not allow capitalists and sectarian groups divide workers and distube our struggle with any problem. One wrong tactic by some workers could give alibi to the security force to suppress and oppress the vast majority of the workers. The problems of unempolyment and hunger are the problems of the Iranian society, and we together with the nationwide movement will take forwaer our work for improvement, not for distruction. Haft Tapeh sugar cane workers syndicate

4 Alternative Workers News-Iran No P. 4 Workers Syndicate of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company: We support the strike of the workers of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Crop and Industry and condemn the policemen's encroachments The Syndicate of the workers of Tehran Bus Company supports the strike of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Crop and Industry Workers. These workers have faced police and security forces in order to attain their most obvious right for receiving wages for work that they have done. And a group of workers have been arrested for one day. We condemn the workers' crackdown by the police and the security forces. And we are asking for the withdrawal of these forces from the workplace of the workers. The wagies of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Corp and Industry workers should be paid as soon as possible and the cause of injustice on hardworking workers should be dried up. Protests, rallis, and strikes are the rights of all workers. And we condemn any police-security-judicial encroachment with the workers. Workers Syndicate of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company The Joint declaration on the Minimum Wage of the year 2018 The decision-making process on determining the minimum wage ( ) and the general increase in wages will start in a situation that, according to some government officials, the pain of hardship explained as knife has reached the bone of the people, especially workers and wage earners. This year, like in previous years, there are no real representatives in wage negotiations and decisions about one of the most fundamental issues of the lives of workers and wages, and in the past years, government officials and employers' representatives in institutions determining wages unilaterally is in the interest of the state and employers. The increase in the minimum wage of workers Minimum wage for workers (Tuman) % 14,5 I 931, % 14 I 812, % 17 I 712, % 25 I 680, % 25 I 487, (today, 1 $ = 5000 Tuman)

5 Alternative Workers News-Iran No P. 5 In the year 2017, the purchasing power of the workers fallen severely, the safety of work, and the reassurance of the future, have worsened the morbidity and the selfishness of the employers of private and public enterprises, supported by the judiciary and law enforcement agencies, and have gotten a wider and more rigorous dimension. Any worker's objection to inadequate working conditions encounters security and police encounters. The unemployed population reaches 6 million, the absolute majority of whom do not receive unemployment benefits. Despite the promise of job creation, the number of unemployed people is increasing every day. The wages of hundreds of thousands of workers in industrial and administrative private and public administrations are postponed for months, and employers, using the capacities of the law and the judicial system, refuse to pay wages and dismissal of protester workers, condemn them by whipping and jailing. A variety of gender-based, religious, national, and ethnic discrimination is rampant in the workplace. Inhuman use of the work of children and retirees with much lower wages than the minimum approved, as well as the unequal wages of women workers towards men and double oppression for a large section of the working class, adds to the severity of wage suppression. wage In discussing the minimum wage of workers and the level of wages in Iran, we face irrefutable realities that govern the lives of all wageearners and clearly show them all; some of them are: 1- According to the Central Bank Household Budget Survey document for the year (2016), the average cost of a household with an average of 3.33 was 3 million 275 thousand Toman (US $ 886) per month. This amount will reach more than 3 million 900 thousand Toman ($ 1,055) per month for a 4-person household. In order to estimate the wages and salaries necessary to provide a living for a 4-person household in the year ( ), we should include inflation for years (2017 and 2018) in the calculation. In this case, the minimum wage for the life of a 4-person household in 2018 will amount to 5 million Toman ($ 1353) per month. Despite all its disadvantages and weaknesses, the Iranian economy has the potential to pay such a wage, and the justifications of government officials regarding the inability to pay this deception amount are no more. 2- The Central Bank and the Center of Statistics annually lower inflation than real inflation. Even if, since 1980 wages had increased in proportion to the inflation that the Central Bank announced, it would still be possible to determine the minimum wage, which would thus be possible for 1397 ( ), from the absolute poverty line this year 2 million or 700 dollars (USD 740) is 1,000 Toman; it will be lower. 3- The minimum wage, and generally wage level in Iran, is one of the lowest in the world, while the price of many consumer goods and services - even governmental - is at world prices. According to all of the above, the minimum wage of ( ) cannot be less than 5 million, ($ 1353) USD a month, according to the signatories of the statement. We invite all workers, teachers, nurses and other staff in hospitals and clinics of all the working in private and public institutions, of all retirees around the country, to demand that the minimum wage of 5 million Toman ($us1353) be extended to all workers and wage earners, and explain the rightfulness and the necessity and possibility of it. Syndicate of Bus Workers in Tehran and Suburbs The Haft-Tapeh Sugarcane Cultivation and Industry Workers Syndicate Retirement Alliance Group Feb 4th, 2018

6 Alternative Workers News-Iran No P. 6 Declaring support of: The Joint declaration on the Minimum Wage of the year 2018 The unity and solidarity of the workers and their joint and independent struggle are the most important condition for achieving the economic, social, political and cultural rights of the working class. With such a commitment, our signatories undertook their full support to the Joint Statement of the (4 February) Tehran-Suburban Bus Workers Syndicate, the Haft Tapeh Sugar Crop Industry and Trade- Union Syndicate, the Retirement Alliance Group. The joint statement declares the necessity of achieving a minimum wage of 5 million Toman ($us 1353) per month for 1397 with realistic, enlightening and irrefutable logic based on social facts and working-class living conditions. We call upon, the mass of workers and independent labor organizations, all teachers of various levels of education and their independent organizations, wageearning staff of hospitals, working staff of public and private institutions, women's combat and independent organizations, committed students and intellectuals to support the "Joint Statement in The Minimum Wage in 1397 ", the text of which is given below. Long live the unity and solidarity of all the workers Be Victorious the joint struggle of workers for the economic, social, political and cultural rights of the working and working class To be powerful the struggle of the workers to fulfill the demand for a minimum wage of 5 million Toman ($us1353) per month South Pars project workers A group of petrochemical workers from Mahshahr and Bandar Imam South labor activists Workers activists Shush and Andimeshk A group of Tehran-Karaj workers (February 5, 2018) Resumption of protests by workers in Hapco Factory On Monday, February 5, 2018 Hapco factory workers, were protesting job insecurity and nonpayment of wages and benefits on time, stopped work, marched towards the city center of Arak and assembled making a humane chain. One worker said that the main problem is nonpayment of wages. Many have not been paid since March 21, 2017 and some others have not received all their wages from He added that in these years that Hapco has problems, not only those workers are in grave economic situation; but they also face many Text: We want to expedite the assignment of Hepco cultural

7 Alternative Workers News-Iran No P. 7 and social problems. Another worker mentioned that the major issue with Hapco is absence of production order and until production resumes problems continued. In his view, the factory runs with less than 5 percent of its capacity. Until unaccounted level of imports, instead of improvement in production continues, crisis in Hapco will continue. Another worker is of the opinion that another problem is absence of a qualified management. He adds that workers need to work and in the case of sufficient employment, there is no need for stoppage of work and demonstrations. Management only makes promises but no actions, while only deed counts. He continued: the major demand we are after, is that the question of getting our jobs and payments to be resolved, because the factory production has stopped. Almost one thousand workers have not received their wages for several months (about $us3000). How can they be paid? Workers do not have any savings they are in debt to banks. It is near New Year (Persian calendar) and workers are in need of their wages and benefits. We want to see that Hapco is taken care of. All infrastructures in this company should not be destroyed. Managers should try to bring business to Hapco and the government should stop unrestricted importations. Every day almost 10 machines are imported from China, while in Hapco high quality machines can be built. Even customers are unhappy with Chinese goods. He said that even if machines are imported it should be coordinated with Hapco production. Hapco is a strategic industry and it should remain under state ownership. Privatization of Hapco is a bad experience. The worker continued that, it is sad that in addition to under priced privatization, the buyer was not a productive manufacturer but an importer. He plays with worker s lives. With the last chance given to the executive manager, unfortunately he has not been able to revive the production in proper manner. It is unknown what the executive board is doing. He pointed out that if production is restored in Hapco, then 3000 jobs will be created for young people. In case of cooperations for giving 3000 machins from municipalities to this company, payment of delayed wages, and protection of industry and realization of 100 billion tomans (roughly $25 million) loans are promises from former governors that are not materialized. It was only after strikes and protests that on Monday, February 5, 2018, one month wages of Hapco workers were paid. Protest Rally of Workers of Tehran and Suburban Bus Company regarding Uncertain Status of Sepidar 2 and 3 Residential Projects Tehran Municipality Building in front of From January 27 to February 7, a group of Tehran and Suburbs bus Company workers gathered for the eight times in front of the Tehran Municipality and the City Council in protest of the unknown status of the Sepidar 2 and 3 residential projects. The protestors are Housing Cooperative Members of the Bus Company and wanted to address their problem. According to them, the Sepidar 2 and 3 residential projects had to be delivered by the end of the year (2012), but after about 5 TEXT: 5 years from the deadline for housing delivery of the workers who are members of the 2nd and 3th Cooperative Housing Project of the Bus Company has passed, but we still have no home and no certainty years of this, the project still remains semi-circular. And only 45% advanced.

8 Alternative Workers News-Iran No P. 8 As the workers express; we have been hoping to be home owners for many years, they say: We have repeatedly referred to various officials and authorities; we have been sending letters and advising many times and holding protest rallies for few times, but we have not received any clear response. This project has 260 members Reza Shahabi should not be imprisoned after 5 days of medical leave!