1-12-07, 8:18 am

(Abridged From 'Nameh Mardom', Central Organ of the Tudeh Party of Iran No. 752, 23rd November 2006)

On the morning of November 19, security agents of the Supreme Leader regime, arrested Mansour Ossanlou the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tehran and Suburbs Public Transit Union once again and sent him to jail. This renowned union activist was under arrest for more than 8 months and was released a while ago under bail and was awaiting his trial at the Islamic Revolution courts.

The re-arresting of Mansour Ossanlou, by more or less kidnapping him, and firing of warning shots to scare the public, was a premeditated and carefully planned action in the current atmosphere of our country. In order to attack the rights of the working and toiling masses, the ruling reactionaries are trying to break the resistance of the workers – which reforming the labour law in favour of corporations is part of it – and quell their resistance and protests.

In achieving this aim, the arrests of many well known trade-unionists, increased pressure on the activists and generally creating conditions similar to that of a police state and terror is among their tactics. Furthermore, the arrest of the Chairman of the Transit Workers Union occurred a short while after issuing the general call to various independent workers' group to unite in analyzing the ministry of labour's motion to reform labour laws, and this in itself shows how the regime fears the growth of such organizations. In reality the second time arrest of Mr. Ossanlou is a warning by the regime to workers and their syndicated organizations!

It is worth noting that Mansour Ossanlou and a number of other members of the union board of directors attended the Asian meeting of the International Labour Organization, in Tabriz, Iran, by invitation despite resistances from the government authorities, and later on they attended the next meeting in Kerman, Iran, and at that conference Mr. Ossanlou gave the opening speech as per the request of the representative of the International Labour Organization. Thus, none of the activities of the transit union and its chairman was outside the current laws and regulations, and his subsequent arrest is an illegal act by the security services!

Tudeh Party of Iran strongly condemns the increased pressure on union activists, including and especially the illegal arrest of Mansour Ossanlou, and demands swift action to bring his case to light. Iranian union movement can resist the trickery of the despots and defend the rights of the working class only, and only by uniting their action!