Clashes broke out between security forces and protesters on Monday when thousands of opposition supporters rallied in solidarity with the popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.

The pro-government Fars News Agency reported that a bystander was shot dead at the hands of protesters.

Today the official IRNA news agency quoted MPs as saying that "Mehdi Karroubi and Mirhossein Mousavi are spreading corruption on earth and should be tried."

The charge of mofsed fel-arz, or spreading corruption that threatens social and political well-being, carries the death penalty in Iran.

Iranian police reportedly continued to use electric prods and tear gas against protesters in Tehran today in an attempt to prevent scattered demonstrations from coalescing.

Jailed Iranian trade union leader Mansour Osanloo has been taken to hospital after suffering chest pains this weekend that may have been caused by a heart attack.

International Transport Federation general secretary David Cockroft said that if Mr Osanloo, who has been locked up for four years, "hadn't had his life threatened, been beaten, arrested, re-arrested and held for years he would today be a well man.

"His maltreatment is part of a campaign to crush his voice and that of his trade union, the Vahed Syndicate."

 

 

 

 

***Week of action for oppressed unions

 

 

 

 

FROM SCOOP (NZ):

 

 

***Osanloo hospitalised

Mansour Osanloo, the Iranian trade union leader unjustly imprisoned for the last four years, has been taken to an outside hospital after suffering chest pains this weekend that could be caused by a heart attack.

ITF general secretary David Cockroft stated: “Frankly, I believe that if he hadn’t had his life threatened, been beaten, arrested, re-arrested and held for years in awful Iranian prisons, he would today be a well man.”

“His maltreatment is part of a campaign to crush his voice and that of his trade union, the Vahed Syndicate. The blame for it lies with the government of Iran, a government that is today letting loose its so-called security forces against protesters in cities across the country.”

He concluded: “Hasn’t that government learnt from the experience of its neighbours: that no one is too powerful to be held to account, and that injustice – such as has been meted out to Mansour Osanloo – cannot be sustained indefinitely?”

In July 2007 Mansour Osanloo, now aged 50, president of the ITF-affiliated Vahed Syndicate (Tehran Bus Workers’ Union) was dragged from a Tehran bus by men who only later were identified as Iranian security forces. Three months later he was sentenced to five years imprisonment on charges of ‘acting against national security’ and ‘propaganda against the state’; in 2010 another year was added to his sentence. In reality his only ‘crime’ has been to help found a genuinely democratic trade union for his fellow bus drivers.

 

 

 

***Trade Unions around the world call on the Mexican Govt.

Trade Unions around the world call on the Mexican Government to ensure Mexican Workers their right to Freedom of Association

Brussels 15 February 2011 (ITUC OnLine): The International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF), the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), UNI Global Union (UNI) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) are calling on the Mexican government to restore justice for killed workers and to ensure freedom of association for workers in Mexico.

It is now five years since 65 miners were killed in the February 19, 2006 explosion at the Grupo México Pasta de Conchos coal mine. To this day, bereaved families await proper compensation and recovery of the bodies for funeral. Miners, the local community, the Mexican National Human Rights Commission, and the investigatory committee of the Chamber of Deputies believe Grupo México's illegal safety violations killed the 65 and note a pattern of labor inspectorate irregularities. In 2009, the United Nations' ILO recommended that "adequate sanctions [be] imposed on those responsible" for the disaster. The total lack of progress to enable an independent investigation and prosecute the corporate and government officials responsible is cause for grave concern for the trade union movement.

See the model letter to have the full story: http://www.ituc-csi.org/workers-rights-in-mexico.html?lang=en

The international trade union movement launched a campaign (14 - 18 February) asking their affiliates from around the world to call on the Mexican Government to hold employer and government officials accountable for the Pasta de Conchos mine explosion that killed 65 miners on February 19, 2006; to abolish systemic violations of workers' freedom of association, including employer-dominated "protection contracts" and interference in union elections; to end the use of force-by the state or private parties-to repress workers' legitimate demands for democratic unions, better wages and working conditions, and good health and safety conditions and to end the campaign of political persecution against the Mexican Miners' and Metalworkers' Union (SNTMMSRM) and the Mexican Electrical Workers' Union (SME).

Different activities, such as visits to embassies, demonstrations, press conferences are being organized throughout the world in the framework of this international campaign in support for Mexican workers' rights.

 

 

FROM PROGRESSIVE RAILROADING:

 

 

***European unions raise concerns about containers

 

The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and its unions plan to lobby European politicians, the European Union and other stakeholders about what ITF officials believe are dangers associated with current container practices. The issue will be the subject of an International Labor Organization (ILO) forum in Switzerland Feb. 21-22.

The ITF is participating in the ILO Global Dialogue Forum on "Safety in the Supply Chain in Relation to Packing of Containers," which it believes is the "first truly worldwide examination of the safety problems linked to overloaded, badly packed or inadequately secured freight containers, and those carrying [hazardous] goods," said ITF officials in a prepared statement.

"So far, best practice and self regulation have failed to stop the worst kind of incidents, and we're therefore recommending that international mandatory instruments be developed that guarantee that those handling and moving containers are informed of their weight, state of packing, stowage and securing, as well as their center of gravity and whether or not any fumigants or dangerous substances are present," said ITF General Secretary David Cockroft.

 

 

FROM AUSTRALASIAN TRANSPORT NEWS:

 

By Brad Gardner | February 16, 2011

The bitter stoush between TNT and the Transport Workers Union continues to worsen, as the freight carrier stands accused of corporate thuggery.

Following its decision to launch a national 24-hour strike against TNT over stalled enterprise agreement negotiations, the TWU claims one of the company’s contractors purposely drove trucks into a crowd of union members.

TWU National Secretary Tony Sheldon claims two men and a woman were injured when two heavy vehicles drove through the crowd and crashed into a car outside TNT’s Enfield site in NSW today.

“One of the drivers, working for a company contracted to TNT, told the protesters his boss told him ‘to run them over’,” Sheldon claims.

“The police are currently pursuing the driver and company. However, allowing contracting companies to act like corporate thugs is deplorable.”
TNT has strenuously denied the accusations and says police attended the scene where there were no reports of injuries.

“We strongly deny any allegation that we or our contractors have been involved in any acts of violence,” TNT General Manager of Marketing and Communications Adrian Castorina says.

While legal action is an option, Castorina declined to say if TNT will pursue the union over its claims.

“I can’t comment on what the action might or might not be,” he says.

He claims the TWU is trying to block vehicles access to the Enfield site, forcing TNT to ask for police assistance to keep operations going.

Maritime Union of Australia boss and the president of the International Transport Federation, Paddy Crumlin, has likened TNT to a third world industrial regime.

“These workers are exercising their democratic right to negotiate a just deal for them and their families, and allowing contracting companies to run over peaceful protesters should be condemned,” Crumlin says.

The TWU has called on the ITF to pursue the matter with TNT’s management in Singapore.

ATN understands TNT is struggling to move freight from its depots in Queensland, with more than half of its pick-up and delivery workforce striking.

Union organisers are claiming freight clearance has fallen to as low as 20 percent, which is expected to have a significant effect on TNT’s supply chain services.

Castorina says most TNT sites are running at full capacity, with the company experiencing delays at a small number of depots.

In a move that will anger the TWU, the freight operator has called in more outside labour to counter the strike.

One of the TWU’s key demands under a new enterprise agreement is for the company to move away from outside labour and introduce site rates for all workers.

“Today we used, approved and vetted outside hire contractors,” Castorina says.

UNION SCOFFS AT TNT OFFER
The TWU is refusing a 12 percent pay rise for workers over three years because TNT will not lift superannuation beyond the government-mandated limit or commit to site rates and the establishment of a safe rates committee.

The TWU wants a 1 percent increase in superannuation each year until it reaches 15 percent.

“An extra one per cent superannuation for all employees and further increases over the coming years would allow members to retirement with dignity,” Sheldon says.

A spokesman for the TWU says TNT’s position on establishing a safe rates committee does not go far enough.

“They’ve said consultation [about safe rates] but they’ve put nothing on a paper,” a union spokesman says.

TWU Assistant National Secretary Michael Kaine says TNT has refused meetings on four occasions since January 28 to reach a compromise.

“The management of TNT is refusing to even talk about effective protections in job security and safety across the operations,” he says.

In an open letter to TNT Managing Director Bob Black, Kaine bemoans the company’s decision to refuse meetings, saying it “is placing significant barriers in the path of reaching an agreement”.

According to Black, the union’s demands will cost the company about $10 million annually.

“Such costs are not sustainable and would put pressure on TNT's viability within Australia,” he says.

The TWU wants a CPI safety net in the new agreement to protect wages from inflation, which TNT has agreed to. However, Kaine has rejected TNT’s offer to extend TWU delegates’ leave from five to six days.

“One day above the Award minimum is not enough for delegates at a company such as TNT,” Kaine writes.

He says members are concerned about job security due to TNT’s decision to increase its use of labour hire workers.

The TWU held stoppages last month to pressure the company into acceding to its demands. A series of four-hour stoppages were held across Australia, along with bans on loading and unloading vehicles used by contractors.