As many of you will be aware, jailed Iranian labour activist Mansour Osanloo faced the loss of vision in one eye while the regime refused him medical treatment. A massive online campaign involving Amnesty International, the International Transport Workers Federation, and many thousands of LabourStart readers has resulted in Osanloo receiving the medical treatment he needed last weekend. The more than 10,000 messages you sent to the government in Tehran had a great — and immediate — impact. Thank you!
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But only hours before Osanloo had his much-needed surgery, we received some very bad news from elsewhere in Iran. Last Thursday, five masked men fired seven bullets into 48-year-old Majid Hamidi (pictured), a labour activist. Iranian labour activists believe that an armed attack of this type could only have been carried out with the involvement and knowledge of the regime. |
In a country where trade unionists are routinely arrested, jailed, and beaten, this represents a considerable escalation. There are fears that Iran may become one of those countries, like Colombia, where trade unionists are routinely gunned down.
We have been asked to mobilize as many of you as possible to send off urgent messages to the International Labour Organization (ILO) asking it to take action now. I am asking you to help us in two ways –
First, please visit the campaign page and send off your message now.
Second, please forward this message on to other members of your union today.
In addition to this campaign, we have a second urgent action appeal ready today — this in support of Mexican workers at the Vaqueros Navarra blue jean factory who are also being denied their right to join the union of their choice. In the last week alone, 50 more workers were sacked for being in the “wrong” union, the one the employer didn’t approve of.
I’d like to ask you to take a minute and send off your message to the governor of Puebla asking him to intervene and ensure that the sacked workers are reinstated and that a fair vote is held.
The two urgent appeals we’re making today come from radically different countries in very different parts of the world. And yet in both cases, what the workers are fighting for is the same — the simple, universally-recognized right to join and form unions of their choice.
They deserve our support, and I know that I can count on you.