Iranian workers protest over privatisation plans

By Amir Paivar

TEHRAN, April 30 (Reuters) - Thousands of banner-wielding Iranian
workers rallied in Tehran on Friday, marking Labour Day with sharp
criticism of the Islamic Republic's ambitious privatisation plans.

President Mohammad Khatami's reformist government has tried to
reinvigorate the lumbering state economy through privatisations,
sparking fears of redundancies in sectors ranging from petrochemicals
to textiles.

"Stop privatisation, stop temporary contracts," workers chanted in a
rally on the eve of international Labour Day.

In 2002, changes to the law allowed companies to give employees
temporary contracts, making it easier to dismiss them.

"When my factory was handed over to private owners... they began
bringing in workers paid by the day," said Assadollah Hosseinizadeh.

Out of 250 workers at his detergent factory, is one of only 40 still
on a permanent contract.

He is paid $188 a month. "Hardly enough to make ends meet," the
46-year-old father of four said.

The protesters, in a statement read to the crowd, demanded an end to
pro-privatisation legislation and a right to strike.

Reformist-dominated parliament last week approved continued
privatisations in a new five-year economic plan (2005-2010).

The budget for the year to March 2005, envisions privatisation
amounting to $2.5 billion.

In the year to March 2004, a privatisation drive was launched by the
newly-founded Privatisation Organisation, ceding more than $1
billion-worth of state assets through stock market flotation and
tenders.

The Privatisation Organisation has drafted a law which it says will
make it very difficult to sack workers after privatisations. The law
is tabled for parliamentary debate in a couple of months.

Iran is marking Labour Day on April 30 this year because of
differences between the Iranian and western calendars.

But many workers complained officials had brought Labour Day forward
to Friday, the Muslim day of rest, to stop them missing a working day.

Analysts reckon unemployment outstrips the official 16 percent and
Iran has admitted it needs to create 800,000 new jobs annually to keep
the unemployment rate static.