Given the recent workers’ rights protests in Wisconsin, Amnesty International (AI) Wisconsin, Amnesty International USA, and United4Iran have drafted a statement of support and concern for human rights abuses that Iranian workers continue to face. The statement, which will be mailed to various Iranian authorities and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urges the Islamic Republic of Iran to allow its workers

• Freedom of association and right to organize,
• Right to collective bargaining,
• Abolition of forced labor,
• Abolition of child labor,
• Prohibition of employment and occupation related to discrimination, and
• Standards regulating wages and conditions of work and work place.

Among the statement’s signatories are leaders of Wisconsin union workers, prominent human rights activist and Nobel Peace Laureate Ms. Shirin Ebadi, as well as AI-Wisconsin, AI-USA, and United4Iran. The statement and its signatories will be published in full on May 1, 2011 to coincide with International Workers’ Day. If your organization would like to get involved – especially by encouraging your locale’s union leaders to sign it – please e-mail us ASAP at info@united4iran.org to coordinate.