26 February 2008

From: ericlee@labourstart.org
 

Since we last wrote to you, our online campaign http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=339 (now available in 
English, Norwegian, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Polish  versions) has generated 3,300 messages of protest to the Iranian  government over its treatment of independent trade union activists.
 
This is good -- but we can do much better.
 
There are over 50,000 of you on this mailing list alone, and I know  that many of your forward these messages to others.  Our unions have  tens of millions of members.
 
What message are we sending to the Iranian government  if only a tiny  fraction of our union membership shows that they care about Mansour  Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi? 
 
In recent days we reported that eleven workers whose only crime was to participate in a May Day event last year were sentenced to huge  monetary fines -- and ten lashes each.
 
We have to increase the pressure and involve many more of our fellow  union members in this campaign.  
 
Please -- if you have not yet done so, click here to send off your  message of protest today. 
 
Forward this message to your mailing lists -- get your union involved.  
 
And don't forget -- March 6th is the international day of action called by the international trade union movement in support of the workers of Iran. Full details are here.  http://www.itfglobal.
org/campaigns/osanloo-action.cfm