Jewish leadership , unions unite on Iran

In an unusual partnership the Jewish community recently joined with Australia’s union movement to protest labour conditions in Iran.

According to reports, about 100 unionists gathered outside the Iranian Embassy in Canberra last Friday.

The crowd wanted to present the ambassador with a letter from the Australian Council of Trade Unions calling for the Iranian government to respect basic workers’ rights.

Before the protest, Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) president Robert Goot said, “ The ECAJ expresses its solidarity with Australian trade unionists and other Australians in calling upon the Australian, and other governments, and the International Labour Organisation to increase pressure on the Iranian Government to stop assassination attempts, persecution, arrests, threats, violence and other repressive measures against workers and labour activists.”

He explained that the International Labour Organisation – a UN-associated organization to which Iran belongs – found Iran had violated discrimination conventions.

Iranian employers and educational institutions had been noted in their discrimination against minority groups, namely the Jewish and Baha’I communities.

“ Discrimination in employment on the basis of religion is especially entrenched with regard to posts within the judicial system, election to Islamic labour councils and access to university education,” Goot said.

While the Iranian ambassador Mahmoud Movahhedi refused to meet with protestors, Kim Sattler, secretary of Unions ACT, asked police outside the embassy to pass on a letter.

The protest was part of a global action day of justice for Iranian workers, with similar events held overseas in places like Belgium, Thailand, Japan and Nigeria.