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Iran
Khodro is the largest vehicle manufacturer in the Middle
East, producing over 110,000 units a year. It produces
passenger cars, minibuses and buses, vans and trucks. It was
formed in 1962 and currently employs around 30,000 workers.
The
glorious strike of the Iran Khodro workers to
get their
unpaid wages and convert temporary
contracts to permanent
ones ends in victory
Iran
Khodro workers, 18 May 2009
Translated
by Iranian Workers’ Solidarity Network
 Last
week the workers of Iran Khodro were successful with their
glorious strike which started in the assembly hall and
continued in the shuttle (body) hall and ended with the
press hall strike. The workers’ immediate demands were
payment of their unpaid wages (productivity and last year’s
production record bonuses) and to switch workers on
temporary contracts to contracts of the Iran Khodro Company
itself.
At
first the new management of Iran Khodro would not pay the
productivity and production record bonuses and postponed
paying the wages for Farvardin [the first Iranian month, 21
March-20 April]. When faced with the workers’ protest, it
paid the wages to stop the protest spreading. But the
workers announced that the time for waiting was over and
that to reach their demands they had decided to go on strike.
Once the managers, who had recently come to the Company,
grasped the seriousness of a strike starting, 150 thousand
tomans [£97,395; $154,353; €111,086] was paid into the
workers’ accounts within a few hours. But not only did the
strike not die down it spread from the assembly hall until
it reached the shuttle hall and the production lines - they
all came to a halt. It was not night-time yet when all the
production record bonuses were paid into workers’ accounts.
And the workers showed that if they are together, once again,
they can stand up to any power.
Another victory
All
the contract workers on the production lines in Iran Khodro
will be leaving contractors' companies and be signed up by
Iran Khodro itself.
When
on May 2 the Industry Minister, who had the mobilised forces
supporting him in the Azadi [Freedom] Stadium for a Labour
Day ceremony, was silent and ignored [the fact] that
hundreds of workers had been arrested on International
Labour Day, he was confronted by the shouts of workers
calling for the lying minister to resign. They wanted an end
to temporary contracts. Then the minister announced that he
will keep his promise and that he had told managers under
the Ministry’s authority, to give a section of workers
permanent contracts before the election. After that the new
[Iran Khodro] management’s notice announced the names of a
few thousand workers who were getting [permanent contracts]
as part of this public commitment, but the names of the
press [hall workers], who are under contract from the PGI
contractor, were not among them.
After
this issue [came to light] the workers of the press hall
brought the production lines to a standstill and gathered in
front of the management office. The strike continued from
the morning to the evening shifts, but before it was time
for the night shift, management announced that all workers
will be covered by the public commitment. And another
victory for the workers of Iran Khodro was chalked up.
Iran Khodro workers
18 May 2009
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