The Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Britain issued a statement in support of the protests of Ahvaz Steelworkers and Haft-Tappeh Sugarcane company workers and denounced the regime’s treatment of workers, civil activists, and students.

The statement reads: “We support the nearly six-week-long strike of steelworkers in Iran, protesting against the failure of their employers to pay them for months at a time.”

It continues: “The response of the Iranian authorities to the escalating industrial action and protests has been typically brutal.”

In the statement, the TUC declares its “strong solidarity” with Ahvaz Steelworkers and calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately fulfill the following demands:

• the release of all arrested workers and trade unionists;
• the payment of all delayed and unpaid wages;
• the removal of anti-riot police from the factory and the surrounding area and the immediate ceasing of all measures designed to coerce the workforce;
• the Iranian government to start meaningful negotiations with a view to return the factory to the public sector based on constitutional provisions covering the failure of privatized factories;
• the Iranian government to recognize, implement and respect trade union rights based on ILO core conventions including ILO conventions 87 and 98.