Trade unions are banned in the Islamic Republic but several unofficial workers’ organisations operate...If layoffs, unpaid wages and inflation were not enough to worry about for Iran’s workers, the authorities offer scant relief. Iran takes a hard line on worker unionization, as it does for all independent political activity...“The government resorts to systematic repression, prosecution, imprisonment and torture of labor activists to prevent the formation of labor unions,” explains Ali...a metalworker-cum-trade-union activist in Tehran...