Iranian sugar workers battle to defend gains

Thousands of sugar cane workers, and their families, employed at the big Haft Tapeh sugar cane plantation and mill complex in the southern city of Shush, Iran, are fighting the company and government in an effort to keep their entitlements. Workers are owed months of wages, pension benefits have been suspended, most workers do not have permanent contracts, while retired workers and family members are harassed by security forces. This is not the first time that the Haft Tapeh workers have had to deal with government repression, for the right to organise and to secure a better life. Their situation is part of on an ongoing offensive by the Iranian government against all workers.

Thousands of sugar cane workers, and their families, employed at the big Haft Tapeh sugar cane plantation and mill complex in the southern city of Shush, Iran, are fighting the company and government in an effort to keep their entitlements. Workers are owed months of wages, pension benefits have been suspended, most workers do not have permanent contracts, while retired workers and family members are harassed by security forces. This is not the first time that the Haft Tapeh workers have had to deal with government repression, for the right to organise and to secure a better life. Their situation is part of on an ongoing offensive by the Iranian government against all workers.