Thousands of Vahed Company Workers Join Protestors

Representatives of over ten thousand drivers from Tehran’s metropolitan Vahed Bus Company (Sherkate Otoboosrani Vahed) gathered yesterday in front of Tehran’s Municipal building to protest discrimination in benefits between the general employees and drivers, un-uniform wages among all municipality staff, and the insignificance of the amounts of the fringe benefits that are provided. According to Iran’s government operated news agencies, the representatives of the workers who totaled about 200, also called for the dismissal of managing director of the company and an investigation of their unpaid salaries. The syndicate of the Vahed company workers is among the most active workers groups in the country. Many of its members, including its president Mansour Osanloo and Ibrahim Madadi, deputy president have spent years in prison for defending the rights of the workers of the company.

The deputy director of city transportation at Tehran’s municipality cited the devaluation of the national currency, rise in the price of foreign currencies, and price increases in food and housing to be the reason for the gathering of the workers of this company and asked the managers of the economy of the country why could workers of Vahed transportation company who enjoyed good salaries, not have a normal life.

We Shall Protest in Larger Numbers

Iran’s Labor News Agency, ILNA, confirmed the gathering of Vahed company workers and wrote that in addition to calling for more uniformed salaries among the various personnel of the municipality, the protesting drivers also protested against the insignificant fringe benefits that they received, such as food and housing benefits.

Also, according to Etehad website, which is the official independent organization of Iranian workers, the protest and demands of workers comes partly because all municipality workers including affiliates such as the fire fighting organization, have received a ten percent increase in their salaries since 2009 while this has not been extended to workers of the Vahed transport company of Tehran and its metropolitan area.

According to a posted report on Etehad, workers from Vahed transportation company have been calling for the elimination of the discrimination in salary between the various workers and staff of Tehran municipality units since 2011 through letters and petitions which have been provided to municipality and other officials. Their requests have fallen on deaf ears, the report reads. Because of this, 200 representatives from the Vahed Tehran transportation company staged a demonstration in front of Tehran’s main municipal building and the city council and have called on authorities to look into their demands.

Latest reports indicate that the gathering ended late on Tuesday after municipality officials promised to meet their requests, but the independent workers union were quoted by labor sources to have warned that unless the promises of municipality workers are translated into action, wore protests in larger numbers would follow.

Tehran Vahed Transportation Company

Since 2005 members of the Tehran Vahed Transportation Company have on a number of occasions resorted to labor strikes. The workers syndicate was initially formed some 40 years ago, before the 1979 Islamic revolution. After the revolution however it was dissolved by officials and replaced by Khane Kargar (Workers House) and the Islamic Labor Council. Seven years later, the syndicate was rebuilt by the workers of the company and joined the international federation of transportation workers.

In recent years many members of the Vahed company syndicate, including its president Osanloo, spent time in prison for his defense of worker rights and conditions.

Ibrahim Madadi, the deputy president of the syndicate is still in prison today since 2007 for security related charges. There are other labor activists such as Shahrokh Zamani and Behnam Ibrahimzadeh who are also spending time in prison.

The six year prison sentence of the treasurer of the syndicate Reza Shahabi which included a five year ban on syndicate activities was confirmed by the Revolutionary Court earlier this year.

In Iran, independent labor organizations are not allowed to operate and in addition to the members of the Vahed transportation company, many other labor activists are currently in prison either serving sentences or awaiting trials. Today government created organizations represent the workers communities in Iran. These organizations, according to government labor activists, are more concerned about political issues rather than resolving problems associated with workers.

Tehran Municipality Deputy President: Problems Caused by Targeted Subsidies

ON September 10 this year, Abdollah Mokhtari, the head of the Tehran municipality workers union responded to the gathering of Vahed company workers and told ILNA news agency, “We shall strive to increase the housing and financial benefits of the workers of Vahed company through legal channels.” He did confirm that there was a difference in the benefits that different municipality workers received. According to him, some received 10,000 Toman in housing benefits while some such as fire fighters and the park service received between 30,000 to 60,000 Toman. According to Mokhtari, no specific amounts of housing benefits have been identified in companies affiliated with the municipality, such as the Vahed transportation company.