2026-05-30

Warm and comradely greetings to all labor organizations and all fighters for the freedom of the working class who have gathered in Geneva for the 114th Conference of the International Labour Organization.

Your gathering underscores the necessity of class unity among workers across the world and serves as a reminder of the truth that the liberation of the working class can be achieved only by the working class itself.

Worker comrades! The capitalist system, through its unrestrained domination and adventurism, seeks to perpetuate and intensify the exploitation of workers worldwide by fueling regional wars and heightening the danger of a third world war, while shifting the heavy burden of capitalist crises onto the shoulders of workers and toilers. A concrete example of these capitalist wars is the ‘Forty Day War’ imposed on the workers and people of Iran, with the possibility that it may resume in various forms in the near or distant future. The Forty Day War was an aggressive war waged by U.S. imperialism and the Israeli regime to advance their hegemonic objectives globally and in the Middle East, with the aim of overthrowing, weakening, or forcing the Islamic Republic regime into submission, thereby neutralizing the pan Islamist influence and regional ambitions of the Islamic Republic in favor of U.S. imperialism and Zionism. Thus, alongside the domination sought by U.S. imperialism and the expansionist policies of the Israeli regime in the Middle East, the reactionary and anti people policies of the Islamic Republic, especially its efforts to expand its political and military influence in the region, have been among the factors that intensified regional tensions and conflicts and facilitated the war making of aggressive powers.

For years, Iran’s working class has suffered under the rule of the Islamic Republic to an intolerable degree from these crises. The political structure of Iran’s capitalist regime has stripped workers and the laboring masses of their most basic human rights and has brought about social disintegration. The repression of workers, women, students, intellectuals, and activists for the rights of national minorities, the suppression of human rights advocates, the imposition of censorship and political suffocation, internet shutdowns, and the denial of information are common methods of governance in Iran, enforced through imprisonment, torture, and relentless executions. Inflation, poverty, soaring prices, unemployment, dismissals from work, and low wages are among the ‘legal’ and widespread measures that parliament and the government impose on working people through anti human and anti worker laws. Any protest against existing conditions is treated as a crime under the charge of ‘disrupting national security.’ The right to organize, form trade unions or labor associations, and struggle for fundamental labor rights is regarded by the judicial apparatus of the capitalist Islamic Republic as ‘waging war against the state,’ an accusation that carries the harshest punishments, including the death penalty.

As a member of the International Labour Organization, the Islamic Republic is obligated to comply with the organization’s fundamental conventions, including freedom of association and collective bargaining. However, this regime has never respected or implemented the decisions, conventions, agreements, and fundamental labor standards of the ILO, nor has it considered itself bound by them in the slightest. Despite repeated warnings and awareness raising efforts by independent labor activists and organizations in Iran and around the world, institutions affiliated with the Islamic Republic, such as the ‘Supreme Center of the Islamic Labour Councils,’ continue to send their own representatives to the annual International Labour Conference in place of the genuine and independent representatives of workers’ organizations. Even more regrettably, these regime affiliated individuals, who have trampled on workers’ rights, have managed to gain positions on the governing board and other committees. Therefore, we, as part of the workers, independent labor organizations, and retirees, call for the expulsion of the Islamic Republic’s representatives from the International Labour Organization and for the participation of the genuine and independent representatives of workers in this organization.

Long live the class unity of workers in all countries!
May 28, 2026

Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Workers’ Syndicate
Coordination Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organizations
Khuzestan Retired Workers
Retirees’ Unity Group