We, together with the toiling masses of Iran, shout something that should be clear: Our demands for an end to poverty and misery should be realized; all oppression and prison should end; all political prisoners should be freed and predators of social wealth and those responsible for oppression should be prosecuted and tried, no matter what position they hold; the wealth stolen from people by financial institutions should be given back; the minimum wage of workers and employees of both public and private sectors be increased fivefold and the massive income of government authorities be slashed; the right of workers to form independent trade unions and civil organization and their unconditional freedom of speech and press and freedom of political parties is to be guaranteed and the demands of millions of Iranian masses be realized.

January 2, 2018

source:

https://www.en-hrana.org/statements/statement-number-independent-labor-organizations-recent-protests

HRANA News Agency- Five independent labor organizations issued an statement declaring their support for people and added “The full text of this joint statement, which a copy has been made available to HRANA, is as follow: “It should be self-evident that ignoring the demands of workers and toiling people of Iran by resorting to demagoguery or crackdown or attempts by governmental factions or the opposition that is driven from power before to base itself on the wave of popular protests will not bear any fruit. This time, it is us, the workers and people of Iran, who will write out own destiny, with unity, solidarity and continuation of protests.”

It is said that When the government has reached a dead end and it has no solution to the crises it has created by it self, and when people fed up with oppression and injustice, unlike the past are not going to give in to oppression, it is time for widespread protests and social upheavals.

So now, for the past four days, people fed up with tyranny, oppression, unaffordable prices, poverty and unemployment, have taken on the streets across the country, and in a united and coherent front they shout their demands to end the existing hell.

The demands that today have provided the grounds for mass protests and rallies of the working people of Iran, are centered on protesting poverty, unaffordability, and unemployment, demands that has been shouted for decades by workers, teachers, students, nurses and all other levels of the workers, yet the rulers without any considerations have been occupied with plundering and looting of social wealth.

What we see today in the streets of various cities of Iran is the eruption of the accumulated anger of the masses of the working people of Iran from the plunder of the billions of top government officials and individuals and financial institutions affiliated with the power sector on the one hand, and the poverty and annihilation of millions of people on the other hand, while the mass unemployment of millions of workers and young people, the beating and oppression of street vendors and the killing of kulbars, the imposition of wages well below the poverty line on the workers, and use of violence, lashes, prisons, executions, and the oppression of any demand for justice and freedom continues.

Those who used to respond to any and every rightful protest by workers and people with security charges, trial and prisons are now faced with the thunderous anger of millions of Iranians and call their protests ‘sedition’ and ‘fitna.’ They should know that now is the time for massive, humane changes in this country and no force of oppression can withstand the quest of us, workers and people of Iran, for justice and freedom.

We, together with the toiling masses of Iran, shout something that should be clear: Our demands for an end to poverty and misery should be realized; all oppression and prison should end; all political prisoners should be freed and predators of social wealth and those responsible for oppression should be prosecuted and tried, no matter what position they hold; the wealth stolen from people by financial institutions should be given back; the minimum wage of workers and employees of both public and private sectors be increased fivefold and the massive income of government authorities be slashed; the right of workers to form independent trade unions and civil organization and their unconditional freedom of speech and press and freedom of political parties is to be guaranteed and the demands of millions of Iranian masses be realized.

It should be self-evident that ignoring the demands of workers and toiling people of Iran by resorting to demagoguery or crackdown or attempts by governmental factions or the opposition that is driven from power before to base itself on the wave of popular protests will not bear any fruit. This time, it is us, the workers and people of Iran, who will write out own destiny, with unity, solidarity and continuation of protests.

Free union of Iranian workers

Association of Electrical and Metal Workers of Kermanshah

Association of Painters of Alborz Province

Labor Defenders’ Center

Committee for the pursuit of the establishment of labor organizations