Ettehadiyeh-ye Sendika-ye Kargaran-e Iran
Encyclopedia
Ettehadiyeh-ye Sendika-ye Kargaran-e Iran was a trade union
centre in Iran
. It was founded on the initiative of the Ministry of Labour and Propaganda in September 1946, with the explicit purpose of competing with the Tudeh-led Central United Council of the Trade Unions of Workers and Toilers of Iran (CUC). The task of setting up ESKI had been delegated to Mehdi Sharif-Emami, the director of the Dispute Settlement Department of the Ministry of Labour and Propaganda. ESKI published the newspaper Kargaran-e Iran. ESKI was a founding member of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
.
In state companies, workers were obligied to join ESKI in order to keep their jobs. In other sectors, coercion and bribes were used to pressure workers to join ESKI. The strength of ESKI was concentrated in railway plants, munition factories and the tobacco industry.
However, ESKI had limited success. There was a distinct gap between official membership figures (as the largest union centre in terms of membership in the country at the time) and the number of genuine followers. ESKI leaders were generally not experienced labour organizers. In the analysis of the U.S. labour attache, William J. Handley, ESKI was in the hands of government functionaries who, in Handley's view, were 'socially illiterate'.
On November 12, 1946, Tudeh mobilized a 24-hour general strike
to condemn the murder of a railway worker. Tudeh accused ESKI of having hired thugs to carry out the assassination.
At the first congress of ESKI, held in November 1949, 21 out of 36 delegates were engineers. Only two delegates were workers.
At the labour congress held in February 1951, a new trade union centre called the Iranian Trade Union Congress was formed. Both ESKI and EMKA merged into the ITUC. ITUC inherited ESKI's ICFTU membership.
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
centre in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. It was founded on the initiative of the Ministry of Labour and Propaganda in September 1946, with the explicit purpose of competing with the Tudeh-led Central United Council of the Trade Unions of Workers and Toilers of Iran (CUC). The task of setting up ESKI had been delegated to Mehdi Sharif-Emami, the director of the Dispute Settlement Department of the Ministry of Labour and Propaganda. ESKI published the newspaper Kargaran-e Iran. ESKI was a founding member of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions was an international trade union. It came into being on 7 December 1949 following a split within the World Federation of Trade Unions , and was dissolved on 31 October 2006 when it merged with the World Confederation of Labour to form the...
.
Profile
The Tudeh Party sharply criticized the launching of ESKI, denouncing it as a 'yellow union'.In state companies, workers were obligied to join ESKI in order to keep their jobs. In other sectors, coercion and bribes were used to pressure workers to join ESKI. The strength of ESKI was concentrated in railway plants, munition factories and the tobacco industry.
However, ESKI had limited success. There was a distinct gap between official membership figures (as the largest union centre in terms of membership in the country at the time) and the number of genuine followers. ESKI leaders were generally not experienced labour organizers. In the analysis of the U.S. labour attache, William J. Handley, ESKI was in the hands of government functionaries who, in Handley's view, were 'socially illiterate'.
On November 12, 1946, Tudeh mobilized a 24-hour general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
to condemn the murder of a railway worker. Tudeh accused ESKI of having hired thugs to carry out the assassination.
Shift in leadership
When the Tudeh-led CUC was suppressed in May 1947, ESKI hoped to be able to fill the void, but such a breakthrough never occurred. ESKI was also caught up in the political intrigues between Ahmad Qavam's Democratic Party of Iran on the one hand and the royal court and army on the other. Sharif-Emami was removed as head of ESKI, and replaced by Khosrow Hedayat (Director-General of the State Railways Organization, and a court loyalist of aristocratic background).Cooperation with EMKA
On August 30, 1947, ESKI, EMKA (another trade union centre, formed through a split from ESKI in 1947) and another small union signed an agreement to coordinate their activities. CUC had refused to join the cooperation. However, the deal only lasted for two weeks, after which ESKI and EMKA excluded the third grouping. On October 28, 1947, ESKI and EMKA organized a labour congress in Teheran. Present were 84 ESKI delegates and 46 EMKA delegates. The cooperation between ESKI and EMKA did not last, however. And in December 1947, shortly after the break between the two centers, ESKI thugs carried out an attack on a EMKA club building. The attack on EMKA further discredited ESKI.Latter period
As of December 1947, ESKI claimed a membership of 75,000.At the first congress of ESKI, held in November 1949, 21 out of 36 delegates were engineers. Only two delegates were workers.
At the labour congress held in February 1951, a new trade union centre called the Iranian Trade Union Congress was formed. Both ESKI and EMKA merged into the ITUC. ITUC inherited ESKI's ICFTU membership.