Union Rights must be recognized
After taking the oath, Hassan
Rouhani’s government started its work. Now, with the introduction of Ali Rabihy
as Minister of Cooperation, Labor and Social Welfare, the Iranian labor-union
movement is expecting “new” policies. Material facts indicate that during the
Ahmadinejad governments, the core philosophy was that if along with severe repression
of the progressive workers and independent unions, enough demagogical
propaganda on fabricated statistics and false portrayals of the results of the
“free market, economic deregulation, shock therapy, small government” economic
policies was disseminated, the working class and the common people will
ultimately believe it.
Privatization and plunder of the
national assets, to be presented as “making government smaller” and “giving
people’s work to the people”; stealing from retired people’s dinner table [ILANA
(Islamic Republics’ Labor News Agency), July 2, 2013], to be pledged as
“bringing the oil funds to people’s dinner table”; and finally, obeying the
directions and implementing the economical policies dictated by imperialist
organizations such as the “International Monetary Fund” (Mehr, July 22, 2013),
to be portrayed as “combating the hegemony” and “combating the colonization.” The
points mentioned above, are legacy of the Ahmadinejad’s eight years of detested
governments.
As it was accurately described in
the “Metal and Mechanical Workers’ Syndicate” and the “Board for Reconstitution
of the Tehran Painting and Decorating Syndicate’s” joint letter, “Considering
our country’s difficult economic conditions, which beset the Iranian workers;
these sanctions have caused production recession in the sanctioned industries,
higher inflation, more poverty, and also will lead to workers’ unemployment and
decay of the toilers’ families.” There is no doubt that the interfering
imperialists’ sanctions have had devastating effects on the Iranian national
production and the workers’ and toilers’ daily lives. However, we will briefly
describe the neo-liberal “economic deregulation” policies dictated by the
“International Monetary Fund”, where with support from the Supreme Leader, were
implemented by the Ahmadinejad governments. We will also describe the effects
of those economic policies over the workers’ and toilers’ lives.
We will give a few examples
describing devastating effects of elimination of the subsidies on national
production, and mass worker lay-offs. On July, 22, 2013, in a report entitled,
“Targeting of the subsidies resulted in closing of 300 dairy factories”, ILANA
reported, “With implementation of the ‘Targeting of the Subsidies Plan’, dairy
factories have lost their competitive state in the market and their production
capacity has been reduced by 20 to 25 percent.” On July 27, 2013, ILANA
reported, “During the last year, from the total 410 units, 195 Mushroom producing
plants were shut-down…… Closing of the Mushroom producing plants resulted in dismissal
of 80,000 workers.” On January 15, 2013, in a report entitled, “More than 80
percent of the workers live under the poverty-line”, ILANA reported, “With
implementation of the ‘Targeting of the Subsidies Plan”, due to increases in
the fuel cost, country’s production plants are facing a crisis…… Due to the
halt in payment of the subsidies to the production plants, since start of this
year, a large number of workers have been laid-off from the production plants.”
A few other examples describing
working class’s appalling living conditions. On July 6, 2013, in a report
entitled, “Exceeding of the Social Security Organization’s expenses from its
incomes due to the differences in inflation rate and workers’ wages”, ILANA
wrote, “Elimination of the reference foreign currency exchange rate is very
dangerous to the Social Security Organization…… Changes in the foreign currency
exchange rate has resulted in 90 percent increases in the cost of medicine and
medical services”. Quoting Ali-Reza Haidary, the report added, “This problem
has also resulted in 40 percent increase in the cost of internally produced
medicine…… Up to now, in response to increases in the cost of medicine, the insurance
companies have provided no guarantees; and at this point, the insured
individuals have to pay for the increases in the cost of medicine”. The report
added,” While according to the law, 10 of the income from implementation of
‘Targeting of the Subsidies Law’ must go to the Health Ministry….. Since
elimination of the reference foreign currency exchange rate, the Social
Security Organization’s treatment expenses have increased significantly.” It is
interesting that with all the problems of the Social Security Organization,
which is the result of authorities of anti-nation Ahmadinejad government treating
the Organization as their “empty back-yard”; on July 24, 2013, ILANA reported,
“On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of establishment of the
Organization, in a rare action, to provide services to the clergy, the Golestan
province’s main Social Security Office has opened a special branch at the
center of the province. At this point 3750 seminarians and mullahs are covered
by the Organization…… Opening of special branch of the Social Security Organization
to provide services to the clergy is happening at a time that the funds of the Organization
come from 30 percent reduction from the workers’ salary.”
According to the Mehr News
Agency’s report on July 22, 2013, during the regime authorities’ visit with the
Supreme Leader, Ahmadinejad delivered a report on his economical legacy. In his
report, in addition to his usual fabricated statistics, Ahmadinejad described
the “Targeting of the Subsidies Law” as a step in the country’s economical
structural reform, and emphasized, “The International Monetary Fund, has
presented the Iranian method of ‘Targeting of the Subsidies’ as the best
method, and recommended its implementation to other countries.” There is no
doubt that international imperialist organizations such as the “International
Monetary Fund” and the “World Bank” are happy about Ahmadinejad’s
implementation of their orders, and will recommend it as a model to other
countries of the world.
Economic policies which their
implementation started from countries such as Chile ,
and during the last four years have generated misery in European countries such
as Ireland , Greece , Spain ,
Portugal and Italy ; during the eight years of anti-national
Ahmadinejad governments, have been implemented with a much more savage rate in Iran . Preventing
implementation of these policies, which have been applied with different names
in our country and have caused devastation of the national production, rampant
workers’ unemployment, and have intensified toilers’ poverty, will only become
possible with a united and persistent struggle of the working class and
independent unions. The only path for workers’ salvation is the restoration of the
union rights, recognition of the right for establishment of unions, prevention
of government’s interference in labor organizations’ activities, and its compliance
with the International Charter for Union Rights and articles of the
International Labor Organization.
