In November 2008 after being inactive for almost 30 years since The Revolution, the Haft Tappeh Workers Union resumed its activities. Despite public opposition from Ministries of Labor and Intelligence of the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad administration, over 1000 workers participated in the election for the managing board of the union. A few days before the election Ali Kordan had declared the formation of independent labor unions a threat to the Islamic Republic. The company management, for its part, had issued a directive prohibiting the workers from unionizing. The workers voted to elect a group that included Ali Nejati as the managing board of the union. Nejati and the majority of the leadership of the union were soon arrested by Iranian security forces and sentenced to prison.