After 91 days of freedom, last Monday, April 15, Reza Shahabi returned to his cell in Tehran’s Evin prison to complete a six-year sentence for “colluding against state security” and “spreading propaganda against the system." The treasurer of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Drivers Union (SWTSBC) was temporarily released after going on hunger strike for 23 days in protest of alleged ill-treatment by prison guards and to demand medical leave for injuries, reportedly sustained while in custody, to vertebrae in his neck and back.

Just before Persian New Year in late March, Shalabi issued a defiant public statement: “To workers and freedom-seeking people, recently a new wave of summoning, arrests and imprisonment of labor activists and workers has taken place,” he said. “This is at a time when the poorest parts of society … are living under very unfortunate circumstances and with every day that passes the purchasing power of workers is reduced and their hope in life is lost.”

The “unfortunate circumstances” Shalabi refers to are twofold. First, international sanctions on Iran’s financial and oil sectors have curtailed the productivity of its economy, which is heavily reliant on imports and exports, leading to layoffs and unpaid wages. Second, the Islamic Republic is cracking down on industrial action in the run-up to June’s presidential election, according to labor activists and almost daily Iranian news reports replete with stories of strikes and arrests of individuals seeking to organize labor.

Trade unions are banned in the Islamic Republic but several unofficial workers’ organisations operate including the SWTSBC, the sugarcane workers’ union and the advocacy group, the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organizations in Iran (CCHWI). A common demand of these proto-unions is that wages keep pace with Iran’s high rate of inflation, which officially stands at 31.5%, with real inflation potentially more than double that. Inflation has risen sharply over the past 16 months due to international sanctions driving down the value of the rial, making imports prohibitively expensive. Ahmadinejad’s IMF-approved, staggered withdrawal of price supports on food and fuel has put further positive pressure on inflation.