Dear Dr. Jahromi
The Honorable Minister of Labour and Social Affairs

Greetings,
Further to our letter no. 10263 dd. 26.05.2008 and our letters no.s 10138 dd. 05.04.2008, 10195 dd. 27.04.2008 and 10293 dd. 23.05.2008 addressed to the managing director of the Employees and Employers Organizations regarding our acceptance of the order of Administrative Justice Court with respect to canceling of letters no.s 577185 and 75179 of the General Bureau of Employees and Employers Organizations and further to our declaration of readiness to hold extraordinary general meeting to amend the Articles of Association and annual general meeting to select the board of directors and inspectors, we are surprised that regardless of our positive interaction with the officials of your respectable ministry, today morning the managing director of Employees and Employers Organizations sent us a fax stating the following:
"With reference to your letter no. d-a-s-r/10138 dd. 05.04.2008, the final judgment has been issued by branch no. 20 of Administrative Justice Court via letter no. 4024 dd. 12.03.2008 stating that the complaint of the Association of Iranian Journalists has been rejected. Considering the above and since the validity term of the board of directors expired on 08.10.2006 and the legal election was not repeated, the said Association has the conditions for dissolution as per paragraph 3 of article 38 of the Articles of Association. Therefore, the said Association is expected to implement article 39 of the Articles of Association. It is evident that based on the existing regulations, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs will not recognize the said Association and will not consider its activities as valid within the framework of by-laws and guild union rules".
Since you, as the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, and based on the existing rules and regulations of the Islamic Republic of Iran, are in charge of guild and labour unions and you have recently emphasized on freedom of guild unions and labour syndicates in conformity with international labour protocols 87 and 97 in the sitting of International Labour Organization, it should be noted that the board of directors of the Association could not comprehend, based on the existing rules and regulations and international labour protocols and the approach of your ministry toward the activities of labour and guild unions, the receipt of such letter about the Association of Iranian Journalists, which enjoys a background of 11 years and has 4000 members around Iran, and for the following reasons, we consider that as illegal:
1- In the said letter, it is stated that "since the validity term of the board of directors expired on 08.10.2006 and the legal election was not repeated". Please be informed that the election for selecting board of directors and inspectors of the Association was held as usual and within legal time limit on 06.08.2006 and its report was sent via letter no. 8392 dd. 09.08.2006 to the General Bureau of Employees and Employers Organizations. In reply to this letter, the said bureau announced that confirmation of the election is subject to amendment of the Articles of Association for holding annual general meeting for the third time. Later and further to the negotiations made with you and the then managing director of Employees and Employers Organizations and to solve the problem, the Association raised a complaint to the Administrative Justice Court and simultaneously sent several letters to Employees and Employers Organizations and asked for their comment for holding ordinary and extraordinary general meetings in the last months of the year 2006 but the managing director of Employees and Employers Organizations in the letter no. 121197 dd. 23.01.2007 stated that: Since the Administrative Justice Court is the competent authority for investigating the raised complaint, in order to avoid problems in dealing with requests of the Association, it is better that the order of the competent authority would become the basis for the further actions of the Employees and Employers Organizations and your labour guild union". Thus, the Association waited for the reply of the Administrative Justice Court which was advised to the Association on 02.04.2008. The Secretariat of the Association immediately announced its readiness for implementation of the order of the court and holding general meeting via letter no. 10138 dd. 05.04.2008. Taking the procedures and actions taken by the board of directors into account, there is no instance of default or fault or delay in holding the election within legal time limit. Paragraph 3 of article 38 of the Articles of Association which has been referred to in the letter of General Bureau of Employees and Employers Organizations is not legal in this respect. It could be legal as of the date of the advice of the court order to the Association, if the board of directors had rejected to hold general meeting and election.
2- Paragraph 1 of article 22 of the Articles of Association expresses that "by the time the new board of directors are determined, all responsibilities are on the apart of the present managing directors". Referring to what was stated above, the board of directors has been running the Association from the period before the election in august 2006 and has fulfilled all its legal duties for holding general meeting and election for selection of the board of directors and inspectors. If the authorities of your respectable ministry wish to strengthen and support guild union activities, naturally they should be helping the board of directors and inspectors in holding general meeting and election and they should not leave the letters of this Association unreplied and it should not be the case that after a long delay, just in a fax without stating legal reasons, they mention that "The Association has the conditions of dissolution ", unless there is a wish to such dissolution in any way apart from the framework of preset rules and regulations.
3- Since this Association beilives that the General Bureau of Employees and Employers Organizations has made a wrong understating of the court order and the court order has just confirmed the letters of General Bureau regarding holding of ordinary and extraordinary general meetings to amend the Articles of Association and to hold election for selection of the board of directors and inspectors. Therefore, the Association will again raise a complaint in the Administrative Justice Court and will ask for cancellation of the said fax.
4- As we announced in our previous letters to you and the managing director of Employees and Employers Organizations, the board of directors is ready for any kind of interaction and cooperation with your respectable ministry for continuing the legal activities of the Association and we expect that your colleagues in the Ministry of Labour, instead of trying to dissolve the Association, assist us in continuing the activities of the Association in conformity with present rules and regulations. Your colleagues in the General Bureau of Employees and Employers Organizations can be administrator for inviting and holding ordinary and extraordinary general meetings for amendment of the Articles of Association and election of the new board of directors and inspectors. By this, they can show that they support the guild union activities and that they stick to existing rules and ideas of the members of Association; otherwise, this dissolution should be interpreted differently.
5- Article 4 of international labour protocol 87 expresses that: "Employees and Employers Organization cannot be dissolved or blockd through administrative procedure", since the legitimacy of civil and guild unions in the first place come from the ideas of their members and at a later stage the existing rules and regulations are referred to. Despite the comment of General Bureau of Employees and Employers Organizations about "having the conditions of dissolution", it should be noted that none of the members of the Association has ever raised a complaint about the activities of the Association and the board of directors. Article 14 of the Articles of Association state that "in case the board of directors refuses to make invitation for general meeting, inspector or inspectors can take an initiative to make invitation for general meeting. In case of default of inspectors in making invitation to general meeting (at most two months after the expiry of the board of directors), one third of members can make such invitation" and in the paragraph 1 of article 28 of the Articles of Association it has also been mentioned that "in case, at most after 6 months of expiry of the validity term, the election is not repeated for any reason, inspectors are required to make invitation for extraordinary general meeting". Although the board of directors of the Association has never refused making invitation and holding general meeting, this right has always been reserved for the inspectors and members of the Association to ask for a general meeting and election in case of disagreement with the activities of the Association and since such request by the members has not made yet, naturally continuation of the activities of the Association has been legal and legitimate in their opinion and cannot be an instance for "having conditions for dissolution". Based on article 4 of international labour protocol 87, dissolution of Association is subject to the vote of the majority of Association members and its announcement through administrative procedure is illegal.

Best regards,
Rajabali Mazrooee
President of the Association of Iranian Journalists