During the last weeks, different factories and production centers around Iran have been witnessing frequent labor strikes and protests against the layoffs and late salaries. The dimensions of these protests have been so wide that the Committee of the National Security of the Islamic regime has stated its concerns about this matter in a report on the increasing labor strikes.

The workers’ protests are a result of the hard economic situations in Iran. According to Tehran Daily, Ali Hoseinian, a member in the Executive Board of the state-dependent House of Workers, while emphasizing that it is not possible to live with a monthly 265 thousand Tomans (~190 €) in the country, has asked the legislatives and officials if they are aware of the 200 thousand Tomans housing rents and if it is possible to manage with only 60 to 70 thousand Tomans.

The Iran’s Statistics Center has stated in its latest report that according to its inquiries, 47 million Iranians are living under the line of poverty. On the other side, the experts have announced the line of poverty in different Iranian cities to be something more than 780 thousand Tomans (~558 €). According to these experts, more than 17 million of Iranians have a daily income of less than 4 thousand and 300 Tomans and 30 million people have a daily income of less than 2 thousands and 600 Tomans.

In the shadow of the hard living situations, one of the crucial questions that Iranian labor activists and pioneers should ask themselves is that how to save the workers’ struggles from dispersion. And how to unite the workers’ struggles that are happening in different factories around the country.

The labor protests and strikes during the recent years have this message that the Iranian workers do not remain silent in the face of the hard economic situations, social deprivations and political suppressions. Iranian workers have been constantly struggling against these conditions, but these struggles have been suffering mainly from dispersion and schism. The labor protests and struggles end in one factory and rise in another one. They do not happen simultaneously. Sometimes even the workers’ demands are different, while their struggles being wide-spread but disperse and limited to inside one factory and production center. There have been cases where only part of the factory has known and been engaged in these protests and the workers have stood alone against the capitalists and their supporting government, while other parts of the factory has been unaware of the events.

The workers need to end this situation and unite and coordinate their struggles in the face of the economic hardships and political suppressions, because it is essential for the advancement of the labor movements and the realization of workers’ demands. It is also an essential condition for the presence of the working class as the leading and progressive force in the mass struggles. The necessity of a leading and strong working class requires unity and solidarity among the workers and an end to the current dispersion.

The question is what to do in order to turn these disperse struggles into a country-wide struggle that connects and coordinates the workers’ fights in different production centers around Iran. There are two main steps to be taken. The first step is to come together around common demands and slogans and the second step is to unite the efforts by all the labor activists in different parts of the labor movements. The lack of workers’ mass organizations, the lack of common demands and the lack of a practical and organized connection between the labor activists on a country-wide scale are two main obstacles that are preventing the workers’ struggles being coordinated and become wide-spread. In this condition, the labor activists and leaders should focus their efforts on resolving these obstacles. These steps are required in order to boost the workers solidarity and class awareness, self-confidence and self-organization and belief in the strength of the working class.

The common and country-wide slogans, while being public and comprehensive, are also specific and well-defined slogans. They reflect the workers’ real demands against the hardships that have been afflicting the workers‘ lives and the resolution of which requires united engagement by all the workers all over Iran.

At the moment the workers in Iran are facing a hard time managing with low incomes that are below the line of poverty, plus the wide layoffs and increasing unemployment. If we come in with common slogans and demand for an income indexed to the real inflation rate, a proper living standard and unemployment insurance in the face of the increasing layoffs, then the protests in any factory over these demands can take a broader scope and can engage all the working masses in these struggles and create wider support and solidarity among the workers.

The officials from different governmental institutions have frequently admitted that workers’ wages are much below the line of poverty, that layoffs are one of the most difficult problems facing the society and that more than 65 percent of Iranian workers are not covered by any social benefits. Under these circumstances, demands such as raising the workers’ salaries and providing unemployment insurance can gain the support of the whole society more than any time. This is an important step towards uniting the workers’ disperse struggles and organizing their united force around common and class comprehensive demands.

In order to coordinate and synchronize workers’ struggles in different parts of the society and enjoy the support and solidarity from other workers, there must be a strong and practical connection among all the labor activists that are leading the struggles on the field. There is no China Wall between the workers’ political and economic struggle. There is a strong connection and interaction between these two types of struggle. Any achievement in the economic field will have a strong influence on the workers’ political struggle too. Workers’ economic fight is a factor that can drive the labor movement to pick up a political fight. In the presence of the current political crisis in the Iranian society, there is a potential chance for the labor political struggle to happen faster. The call for releasing all the political prisoners, the demand for salary raise and unemployment insurance can mark the start.

The more unity of demands and coordination of struggle methods the labor leaders and activists can bring about, the faster the labor movement can go from its defensive position to a fighting position and prepare for leading the mass protests in the society.

Talk of Day by KOMALA TV

January 1st 2010