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3 January
Vahed Syndicate holds its regular Executive Board meeting successfully.

7 January
JRU in Japan sends its protest letter to President Ahmadinejad.

9 January
JR-Rengo in Japan sends its protest letter to President Ahmadinejad.

12 January
TRANSNET in Germany sends its protest letter to the Iranian Embassy in Berlin and the German Minister of Foreign Affairs.

18 February
The ITF is backing a campaign by fellow global union federation IUF to clear five union leaders in Iran who were arrested for standing up for workers’ rights. Continue reading and TAKE ACTION >>

19 February
Mohsen Hakimi is released on bail. He was arrested by the secret police on 22 December.

28 February
Ministry of Intelligence officers raid the home of Ali Nejati, President of the Executive Committee of the Syndicate of Workers of Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company.

4 March
The ITUC sends a letter to President Ahmadinejad urging the Iranian government to reconsider its policy of repression towards attempts by workers and unionists to demand for basic workers’ rights following the arrests of two Haft Tapeh sugarworkers’ union members - Reza Rakhashan, communication officer and Rahim Bashag, executive board member >>

8 March
Ali Nejati is arrested by intelligence officials at his home.

9 March
The ITUC, EI, ITF and IUF send a joint request to the ILO for intervention with regards to escalating repression against trade unionists in Iran >>

13 March
The ITF sends a protest letter to President Ahmadinejad supporting the letter from the ITUC on 4 March >>

20 March
The Committee in Defence of Haft Tapeh Workers is formed in Iran by numerous labour and social activists.

6 April
Nejati’s whereabouts are only revealed after his wife visits him for a few minutes at the Intelligence Detention Centre in Ahwaz. He is being held in solitary confinement. Branch Two of the Security Prosecution Court in Shoush has filed a case against Nejati. According to his wife he is being interrogated on charges for which he was previously tried and sentenced. Nejati, along with four other members of the Executive Board of the union, was previously prosecuted on 17 and 23 February 2009. The results of their trial are yet to be officially announced.

7 April
Hundreds of workers in the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company go on strike to protest non-payment of their wages for the past two months and the reduction of overtime work, the arrest and detention of Ali Nejati and for the implementation of a job classification plan. The strike ends shortly after the company management promises to pay unpaid wages within the next two days and to take the other demands of the workers into prompt consideration.

12 April
News is published that Mansour Osanloo has been taken to solitary confinement for not wearing his prison uniform to go to court. The Vahed Syndicate issues a press release denying the news and reports that Osanloo’s family have had a face to face meeting with him in Rajishaher prison.

14 April
Ali Nejati is released. Nejati, along with the four other members of the union Executive Board receive their verdicts from court. They are each sentenced to a year in prison. All are banned from union activity for a period of three years.

17 April
73 labour activists are detained by the police for several hours after visiting the family of Jalal Hosseini in Kurdistan. Hosseini is currently serving a six month prison sentence for his involvement in May Day 2004. He is a member of the Coordinating Committee to Form Workers Organizations in Iran and a member of the Saqez Seven.

23 April
Despite formal promises by the authorities, the Pay Parity Law passed in 2007 has still not been implemented. As a result, the teachers’ movement in Iran calls for industrial action from 26-28 April. The Pay Parity Law guarantees better pay and working conditions for Iranian teachers. President Ahmadinejad was promising its implementation by 22 March 2009. EI sends a protest letter to President Ahmadinejad.

25 April
Iran withdraws its candidacy for the Presidency of the 2009 ILC (International Labour Conference).

26 April
Sajad Khaksari, son of Mohamed Khaksari and Soraya Darabi, both leaders of the Iran Teacher Trade Association (TTA), is arrested during a teachers’ gathering in front of the Parliament, which was organised by teachers from Lorestan and Kermanshah who were requesting permanent contracts. He is transferred to the Baharestan Security Police Station. The Revolutionary Court, Branch Two, charges him with “disturbing the public opinion” and order $50,000.00 bail for his release >>

27 April
The ITUC, EI, ITF and IUF release a joint statement calling on the government of Iran to respect their citizens’ rights and permit free assembly on May Day. The statement also calls for an end to the repression of independent trade unions and their members in Iran, and for the immediate and unconditional release of jailed trade unionists including Mansour Osanloo, Ebrahim Madadi, Farzad Kamangar >>

28 April
Ali Saghafi, the Chair of the Center for Workers’ Rights in Iran, is summoned to the Tehran Intelligence office about the May Day Organising Committee which was set-up by 11 independent labour organisations. He is told that a rally without permission from the state is illegal and that security forces and the police will block the venue, Laleh park.

ICEM endorses the joint statement released by ITUC, EI, ITF and IUF.

The 2009 May Day Organising Committee releases its May Day Declaration >>

29 April
Reza Shahabi, a member of the Vahed Syndicate, is summoned to the Intelligence services office in Tehran.

30 April
The Vahed Syndicate sends a message of solidarity to workers in Turkey on the occasion of May Day. Turkish unions have been campaigning to remove restrictions on May Day celebrations set by the government for more than 30 years >>

The ITF Solidarity Book is published in Farsi >>

 1 May
More than 150 people are sent to Evin Prison for taking part in a May Day rally. Around 2,000 people gather in the Laleh Park in Tehran where hundreds of security and police had closed all entrances to the Park. Plain-clothed intelligence officers and police attack participants and severely beat and arrest many people. Tear gas is used to break up the rally. Cameras and cell phones being used to document the event are destroyed by police. Security guards from companies and factories including Sherkat-e Vahed are also present in the crowd to identify and report workers from their companies to the security forces. The 2009 May Day Organising Committee releases its statement >>

8 members of the Metal workers and Mechanics Union including Hossein Akbari, Abdollah Vatankhah, Abol Hassan Dar ol-Shafa’ie and Aziz Yari in Nematabad, south Tehran are arrested for organising a May Day rally.

The lawyer for the Haft Tapeh Sugarworkers’ Union and the Vahed Syndicate sends a letter to the ILO Director-General highlighting the serious situation for workers in Iran, in particular the constant threat of imprisonment, denial of social rights, dismissal from work, and frequent summoning and arrests of Executive board members of the two unions. The letter also appeals to the ILO to support the trade union rights of workers in Iran and to conduct the necessary proceedings to address the charges filed by the Judicial System of the Islamic Republic of Iran against individuals and all other Iranian workers.

3 May
30 of the people detained on May Day are released.

4 May
The teachers association, TTA organises gatherings in front of the Education Ministry in Tehran and Education Department Offices in the provinces to celebrate National Teachers Day. In Tehran, over 100 teachers gather for the meeting. Before the gathering in Tehran, plain-clothed and uniformed police officers patrolled the area and attempted to compel the teachers to leave. When teachers resisted, the police assaulted and beat them. Rasoul Bodaghi, a member of the TTA in Tehran, was arrested and transferred to the Revolutionary Court on 5 May. Bodaghi had been detained and sentenced to a two-year suspended prison term in 2007.

5 May
The detained workers on 1 May are moved to Evin prison. Among them are Homayon Jabaeri, Mansour HaiatGaibi and Gholamreza Khani of the Vahed Syndicate.

Ali Nejati, is terminated from his employment.

According to reports, Haft Tapeh workers have not received wages for the last two months. All executive board members are under harassment to resign from their positions as members of the union executive board.

6 May
Mansour Osanloo’s family receives a termination of employment letter for him from the Vahed company.

7 May
Rasoul Bodaghi, a member of the TTA in Tehran, is released after 26 hours detention along with two other teachers.

Sajad Khaksari is transferred to Ward 10 in Evin Prison. EI believes that Sajad’s arrest is connected to his father’s union activism. EI sends a letter to Iran President Ahamdinejad requesting the immediate and unconditional release of Sajad Khaksari and the withdrawal of all charges against him.

9 May
The 2009 May Day Organising Committee sends a statement of thanks to the ITUC, ITF, IUF and EI for their support for workers in Iran.

11 May
Indonesian ITF affiliates led by the maritime union KPI organised their protest action against the mass arrests of Iranian unionists on May Day. 100 unionists marched the streets of Jakarta and held a rally in front of the Iranian Embassy. They delivered their protest letter to the Iranian authorities.

13 May
Four women who were detained on May Day are released.

17 May
A further 11 women are released.

19 May
In response to the mass arrests on May Day and the continued detention of trade unionists, the ITUC, EI, ITF and IUF call a worldwide action day on 26 June to demand justice for Iranian workers >>