NCRI - National Council of Resistance of Iran

Iran: Sugar cane factory workers strike continued on its fifth day

Workers at Zaabal factory in Shooshtar and Amir-Kabir factory of Dasht-e Azadegan went on strike

NCRI - Workers at Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane factory in Shoosh, southern Iran, continued their strike on the fifth day running today. On April 12, the striking workers staged protest outside the office of the factory manager, Yaqoub Shafiee, demanding payment of their unpaid salaries.

On April 11, the factory's management tried to create division among workers by paying last year's bonus to part of the striking workers. But the workers announced that they would not end their strike until every one of them received their payments in full.

In the meantime, the workers at Zaabal Sugar Cane Factory, on the road linking Shooshtar to Ahwaz, Southwest Iran, went on strike in protest against non-payment of their salaries and last year's bonus. Their salaries have not been paid since mid-December 2007.

Amir-Kabir Sugar Cane factory in Dasht-e Azadegan, Southwest Iran, also walked out in protest against non-payment of their New Year's bonus.

The authorities in southern province of Khuzistan are now facing a serious crisis as workers in three sugar cane factories in the province are on strike in protest against their working state and non-payment of salaries.

The Iranian Resistance calls on all labor organizations, unions and in particular the International Labor Organization (ILO) to condemn the clerical regime's anti-labor policies and suppression of workers and demands support for workers just demand.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
April 13, 2008