Dear Sisters and Brothers of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Company,

The IUF is the international trade union federation representing workers around the world in the food, agricultural, hotel, restaurant,  catering and tobacco workers. On behalf of our worldwide membership organized in 373 trade unions in 121 countries, I write to express our full solidarity with your struggle for your wages, your families, your rights and your dignity. The right of all workers to freely join trade union organizations and to bargain collectively with employers is a universal human right and is recognized as such in international human rights instruments which have the force of international law. No company, no manager, no government can deprive workers of this right.

By creating your own organization, independent of the state, the Haft Tapeh employees have created a vehicle for actively exercising this right. The IUF welcomes this courageous move. We have no illusions about the authorities'

response - every independent organization is a challenge to despotism. Your struggle will not be an easy one, but I can promise the full support of our members around the world.

Yours in solidarity

Ron Oswald

General Secretary