Ei-iE

The Teacher Trade Association of Iran (Kanooneh Senfiyeh Moallemaneh Iran, TTAI) and the Teacher Organisation of Iran (Sazmaneh Moallemaneh Iran) announced that they will not be holding any protest action on 13 March when members of parliament meet with the representatives of the teacher unions officially.

A delegation of 12 representatives of teachers across the country will meet with the Parliament's Governing Board, the Education Minister and his deputies, a representative of the Presidential Office, his Cabinet, and the head of the Programme and Budget Office on Tuesday 13 Mar at 2pm in the parliament building in Tehran.

Trade union leaders Ali Akbar Baghani and Beheshti Langroodi, head and spokesperson of the TTAI respectively, who were arrested on 7 Mar and then released on 10 Mar will be part of the teacher union delegation.

Representatives of various teacher associations across the country met on 9 and 12 Mar to agree on a set of demands to be presented on that day. Teachers will request the adoption of a budget line to allow the enactment of the National Public Service Bill, also known as Pay Parity Bill, which would guarantee an improvement of the teachers' salaries.

There are over 30 different teacher associations in Iran and they are grouped under an umbrella organisation, known as the Coordinated Council of Cultural Workers' Associations (Showrayeh Hamahangi).

After the meeting in the parliament, each teacher representative will contact its regional Executive Board to outline the outcomes of the meeting. The Co-ordinated Council of Cultural Workers' Associations will then decide on 14 Mar, on the basis of the decisions of each regional Executive Board, whether to continue or not with the protest or industrial actions.

On 9 Mar, EI wrote to the Iranian authorities to invite them to enter a dialogue with the teacher associations and to release immediately and unconditionally teacher representatives arrested during their protest.

EI has no member organisation in Iran, but is in contact with the Co-ordinated Council of Cultural Workers' Association and the Solidarity Center in Iran, and will continue to monitor the situation.

Click on the links below to download EI's letter to the government of Iran dated 9 Mar 2007.