International Workers' Day Rally Held in Tehran After Eight Years

The International Workers' Day rally was held in Tehran on Friday morning, May 11, with the participation of thousands of workers, marking the first such event in eight years. Following the rally, Alireza Mahjoub, the Secretary-General of the Workers' House, and his deputy Hassan Sadeghi addressed the crowd. According to the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA), it is reported that over 20,000 workers participated in the rally, which began at Enghelab Square and concluded at Palestine Square, although they were unable to gather in one place due to road blockages. ILNA reported that around 5,000 people gathered in the northern section of Palestine Square. Workers from various provinces, including Mazandaran, Qazvin, Semnan, Alborz, Hamadan, Qom, and Khorasan, attended the rally, with organizers stating that 720 buses were dispatched from surrounding cities to facilitate attendance. Labor activists noted that since August 28, 1953, until the 1979 Revolution, holding events and rallies for May Day was banned, and the last workers' rally in Tehran occurred in 2007. Meanwhile, several labor organizations, such as the Free Workers' Union of Iran and the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran Bus Company, have repeatedly criticized the government's opposition to holding May Day events, which have often been accompanied by the arrest of workers and labor activists. Participants at the rally chanted slogans such as 'Iranian worker, unemployed, unemployed,' 'Social security is our undeniable right,' and 'The temporary contract is a model of slavery.' After the reading of the rally's resolution, attendees also shouted slogans like 'Temporary contracts must be abolished.' In his speech, Alireza Mahjoub referred to the 'disruption' that occurred during the rally, expressing regret that some did not respect the dignity of Iranian workers. He emphasized that they, as representatives of the workers, would pursue this issue through relevant authorities. In recent years, several labor activists have been arrested around International Workers' Day. On Wednesday, security police arrested Ibrahim Madadi and Davood Razavi, two board members of the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran Bus Company, just before May Day. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Mahmoud Salehi, Osman Esmaeili, and Pedram Nasrollahi, three labor activists in the cities of Saqqez and Sanandaj, were also arrested. The Free Workers' Union of Iran condemned the summons and arrests of labor activists in Tehran, Saqqez, and Sanandaj in recent days. This organization noted the summons of Shith Amani, a board member of the Free Workers' Union of Iran, and his interrogation, stating that these actions are a result of the 'fear and panic' from widespread labor protests. The organizers of the International Workers' Day rally called for the payment of minimum wages based on 'minimum living standards' and a review of pensions for social security retirees, beneficiaries, and the disabled in their final resolution. They emphasized that 'workers' rights, despite recent efforts and increases, are negligible, and workers cannot live more than 10 days on these wages.' Previously, seven independent labor organizations in Iran had called for an immediate review of the monthly minimum wage, increasing it from 712,000 tomans to three million tomans based on the cost of living. The resolution also called for government support for domestic production, strict implementation of the early retirement law for hard and hazardous jobs, retirement for workers with 25 years of service, the abolition of temporary contracts, and the organization of contractual jobs. Additionally, it condemned any efforts aimed at undermining or incapacitating the Minister of Labor. Ali Rabiei, the Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, is a founding member of the Workers' House, the main organizer of the May Day rally in Tehran. The resolution also warned the Iranian Minister of Health to 'forget about merging the treatment sector and the social security hospitals.' According to ILNA, some participants in the rally chanted slogans like 'Minister of Health, have some shame, leave social security alone' in response to rumors about transferring social security hospitals to the Ministry of Health.