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Three weeks have passed since the widespread and nationwide strikes of nurses in Iran. Their strikes started on July 30th and are still going on, and so far, nurses have gone on strike in fifty cities and more than sixty hospitals. The nurses’ protest is against the poor living conditions, the ever-increasing prices and discrimination in payments, and their unanswered declared demands. One of their major issues of protests is the heavy and slavish work pressure and forced overtime with very low pays.
According to the latest news, during these protests, two nurses, whose names are not known, were arrested in Arak city. Also, several nurses of Masih Daneshvari hospital in Tehran, were arrested. The staff and nurses of Masih Daneshvari Hospital firmly declared that they would not keep silent if their colleagues not released. Also in Mashhad one of the nurses named Firoozeh Mojryan Shargh and Pouya Esfandyari from Milad hospital in Tehran have been arrested. In addition, in Shiraz city and many provinces, the government is trying to break the united ranks of nurses by threatening nurses with legal proceedings. In some universities of medical sciences, the payment of the salaries of some identified employees has been stopped.
The Coordinating Council of Nurses’ Protests in a statement under the title of “We will not tolerate harassment of our colleagues” has protested these arrests.
Nurses are having a hard fight over their livelihood and work demands. During the recent protests, we have seen security forces and police officers confront protesting nurses.
Nurses in Iran are an underprivileged part of the society, who are being worn out under the pressure of heavy work and forced overtime. According to statistics, there is only one and a half nurses for every thousand beds, and as a result, the work pressure is very heavy and intolerable on nurses and the general medical and health conditions in Iran are disastrous. We have unfortunately witnessed several cases of suicide of nurses in recent months, and even according to government media reports, the number of suicides of nurses is rising.
Free Them Now (FTN) the campaign to free jailed workers in Iran, calls for the solidarity and support for the nurses in Iran from all labour unions and humanitarian organisations around the world. We should put pressure on the Islamic regime to stop the repressions and immediately and unconditionally release the detained nurses and labour activists. The rights and livelihood of nurses should be respected in accordance to the international standards.
The contact addresses for sending your protest letters to the authorities of the Islamic regime and the ILO, which is silent against all these repressions, are attached. You can send your letters of support to Free Them Now to be broadcast on our social media and TV show.
Shahla Daneshfar, Spoke Person of FTN, Shahla Daneshfr2@gmail.com
Kazem Nik-khah, head of international relations of FTN: kazem.nikkhah@gmail.com