Statement on the situation in Iran

CUPE stands in solidarity with the people of Iran, especially the workers and trade unions protesting in response to the country's worsening economic crisis and social injustice.

Their demands include calls for justice, democracy, lower food prices, living wages, jobs, and an end to the rapid expansion of insecure and precarious work. The government has responded with severe repression, including mass killings, arrests and detention.

We mourn with the families of those killed, and join the global labour movement and Iranian labour organizations in calling on the government to release all political prisoners immediately and without conditions, end the executions, and stop the crackdown on protesters, workers and union activists.

Workers and trade unions in Iran have a long history of fighting for their labour and political rights. CUPE supports their right to mobilize without foreign military intervention and interference through sanctions or other means from the United States, Israel or other external powers. Foreign intervention would bring even more devastation for workers and civilians and undermine genuine self-determination.

CUPE is committed to worker-to-worker international solidarity. We will amplify the voices of unions inside Iran and defend persecuted trade unionists and political prisoners, and support the right of workers everywhere to organize freely, independently, and democratically.