Date: 01 Mar 2000
Time: 13:48:39
Remote Name: 156.29.145.175
03/01/2000 BBC Worldwide Monitoring Source: IRNA news agency, Tehran, in English 1042 gmt 1 Mar 00/BBC Worldwide Monitoring/(c) BBC
Text of report in English by the Iranian news agency IRNA
Tehran, 1st March: Some 200 workers of Mobliran (furniture manufacturer) company located on Kilometre 10 of Karaj special road, west of the capital Tehran, Wednesday [1st March] morning blocked the west-east lane of the road to traffic in protest to not being paid in the past 20 months. "Having been not paid for 20 months has halted education of some of the children of the workers, resulted in forced divorce and also homelessness of several others," said the protesting workers. The protest was made today when electricity was cut at Mobliran factory due to its heavy debt to the power company, which stopped operation of the machinery as well as the heating system. Workers said that in their latest protest held in front of the Labour Ministry, officials had promised them to resume production as well as pay the workers before the turn of the year ( Iranian year ends on 21st March this year). About 300 workers of the factory staged a protest gathering in front of the Labour Ministry last month and called for the attention of the officials to their demand. Labour Minister Hoseyn Kamali told the last month gathering of workers that, given mismanagement at the factory, the Labour Ministry has called for administration of the factory by the government. The minister had pointed to the ceding of shares of the factory to the private sector as the root cause of the situation and said he had predicted the present status quo one [and] a half year ago. Mobliran factory was ceded to the private sector in 1992 and the present 270 workers of the plant are only a small portion of the larger staff who have been either expelled or received some compensation before being dismissed. Meanwhile, officials of labour institutions are trying to convince the workers to clear the road and negotiations are under way to pay at least parts of their delayed salary.