Stop the arrest and detention of workers at the Haft Tapeh Sugar Factory and release of those workers that have been arrested, urges a Nov. 13, 2007, letter to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad from Hospital Employees’ Union president Fred Muzin.
Several workers have been detained for participating in a strike for unpaid wages and benefits, circulating petitions and collecting 2,500 signatures demanding the right to form a union and hold a weekly general assembly.
More specifically, informants say that on Nov. 5, Qorban Ramazan Alipour, a worker at the Haft Tapeh factory, was arrested by the Iranian ministry of intelligence and taken to an unidentified place. On Nov. 7, another Haft Tapeh worker, Mohammad Haydari Mesr, was arrested. Some observers say that the Irananian government is arresting worker leaders in an attempt to terrorize workers to prevent them from building union organizations.
The letter calls on Ahmadinezhad to immediately and unconditionally release Qorban Alipour and Mohammah Haydari Mesr and to respect the workers’ right to organize a union and grant them the right to a weekly general assembly
Muzin is CUPE’s national executive board liaison to the national global justice committee.