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EI has written to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asking that a social dialogue begin without delay with the representatives of the Iranian teachers. EI has been in regular communication with the Iranian authorities since 2007, following the crackdown on Iranian teachers who believed implementation of the approved Parity Bill would improve their status.

Two years later, the teachers are still waiting for the implementation of the Bill. They also continue to urge the government to respect fundamental rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

The lack of any positive response from the authorities and the growing frustration is such that some voices in the Iranian teacher movement are calling for strike action. While there is no concerted union call for strikes, teachers insist that collective action is needed to back the teachers’demands.

In recent years, teachers have suffered harassment, repression and imprisonment for having taken to the streets. Even simple union gatherings are repressed. On 16 September and 31 December 2008, meetings convened by the Iranian Teacher Trade Association (ITTA) were dispersed by police intervention, and teacher representatives taken to police station for interrogation.

EI continues to deplore the fact that teachers are deprived of freedom of association guaranteed under ILO Convention 87. As long as the Iranian authorities maintain the ban on the teacher union ITTA, imprison trade unionists such as Mansour Osanloo, Farzad Kamangar and others, and as long as the harassment of teachers participating in union meetings continues, EI and the trade union movement worldwide will continue to advocate for the full respect of trade union rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.