Brussels, 7 May 2008: Peaceful May Day demonstrations have been repressed in several places in Iran. As usual, many trade unionists have been arrested while the demonstrations were stopped. The ITUC has strongly condemned those acts of anti union attacks.

To create fear among trade unionists ahead of May Day, several people were already arrested before. On 23 April Shays Amani was arrested. He is one of the founders of the National Union of Dismissed and Unemployed Workers (NUDUW) and former leaders of the union in the Kurdistan Textile Company. Shays Amani was already arrested last year on May Day and was still waiting for the result of his appeal of his unfair sentence to two and a half years imprisonment.

On May Day itself several arrests and other acts of harassment took place across Iran. Three workers activists, Javanmir Moradi and Taha Azadi, members of the Free Union of Iranian Workers (FUIW), and another worker by the name of Saeed Hazrati were arrested in Asalouyeh in the south of Iran. Others arrests took place in Ashnavieh city and Sanandaj. In Tehran where May day celebrations took place already on 25 April, security forces and the police blocked the Chitgar park and scared away participants. The park was shut down by 1000 security forces, but the workers managed to move to the Jahan-Nama Park and continue the celebrations there.

“Iran government must stop repress peaceful celebrations on May day or any other day” said Guy Ryder, ITUC General Secretary. “Workers have the right to demonstrate and to exercise their trade union rights”.

The right to conduct peaceful celebrations of May Day is protected under the principle of freedom of association as enshrined in the ILO Convention 87. And as Iran has an obligation to respect this principle, the ITUC will report these incidents to the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association. In a letter sent to the authorities the ITUC urges the Iranian Government to halt the heavy repression of teachers and the and the Syndica Sherkat-e Vahed. The ITUC also remind that Mansour Osanloo, detained for several month in prison, must be free without further delay.

The ITUC represents 168 million workers in 155 countries and territories and has 311 national affiliates.

For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on +32 2 224 0204 or +32 476 621 018.