Hadi Aboui, the Secretary General of the Supreme Center of Iranian Workers’ Trade Unions, recently revealed a pressing issue: the dwindling purchasing power of workers, which has forced approximately 70% of them to seek secondary employment.
Numerous reports have previously highlighted the decline in workers’ purchasing power, taking into account rising inflation and the increasing cost of living in Iran.
On October 4, the ILNA news agency reported that independent calculations indicated the subsistence basket’s lowest estimate in various provinces had reached 22 million tomans. Moreover, they noted that a salary of 9 million tomans falls significantly short, trailing by two million tomans.
In essence, a worker earning 9 million tomans, while residing in a city and avoiding housing expenses exceeding 7 to 8 million tomans in Tehran, would, at best, have their salary cover expenses for only two weeks.
According to the same news agency, even with the current minimum wage, it’s impossible to sustain oneself for more than two weeks in urban areas.
Hadi Abui expressed concerns about the workers’ livelihood issues and stated, “Our main problem is the Ministry of Labor’s reluctance to convene a meeting for addressing these concerns. We aren’t solely seeking salary increases; at the very least, we need a platform for workers’ concerns to be heard, but such meetings continue to be avoided.”
Towards the end of the previous year, the Supreme Labor Council passed a 27% raise to the minimum wage for married workers covered by labor law.
Consequently, this group’s minimum monthly salary reached approximately 8 million tomans. However, this move was met with significant criticism, especially considering that Iran was experiencing inflation rates exceeding 50% at the time.
Khabar Online also confirmed that the inflation rate had been consistently above 46% since the start of the year, with the past year seeing it cross the 50% threshold.
Amid the criticism of the Supreme Labor Council, independent labor organizations and activists insisted on setting the minimum wage for workers at a minimum of 15 million tomans.
Despite the speech of the regime’s President Ebrahim Raisi on International Workers’ Day in May, in which he promised support for workers, there has been no significant action to raise wages.
Additionally, officials from the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare have consistently opposed wage increases for workers. Even Soulat Mortazavi, the Minister of Cooperation, Labor, and Social Welfare, suggested that minimum wage earners could negotiate higher salaries based on their expertise.
Gostaresh News reported that he effectively shifted the responsibility for workers’ requests onto the workers themselves.
Subsequently, reports emerged, corroborating employers’ resistance to increasing workers’ wages. Some workers even lost their jobs without any response from the Ministry of Cooperation, Labor, and Social Welfare.
Faramarz Tawfighi, a labor activist, independently calculated the monthly expenses for a family of three or four in Tehran, including rent, to be as high as 30 million tomans. He explained that a working family in Tehran who lives in a rented home would require a monthly salary of 30 million tomans to cover expenses until the month’s end.
Devoting a significant portion of the household budget to housing and food left households with limited funds for other essential expenses, such as education. This shift is reflected in the declining share of education expenses in the total household budget.
Meanwhile, the administrative and employment organization requested not to allocate surplus funds to executive bodies for restoring employees’ rights.
Khabar Online reported that despite mixed news regarding the possibility of increasing employee salaries in the second half of the year, this organization and the Planning and Budget Organization clarified their position on the matter.
This comes after the head of the parliament’s labor faction announced a plan to increase government employees’ salaries by 20% for the second half of the year.
Ali Babaei Karnami explained that the government intended to propose a bill for a 20% salary increase for government employees and retirees, pending approval from the Supreme Labor Council.
According to Khabar Online, the government of Ebrahim Raisi sent a bill to the parliament in the past year titled “Adjustment of Salaries for Government Employees and Military Retirees.” The bill sought permission to increase government employees’ salaries, subject to approval by the parliament, starting in September.
The parliament approved this proposal in November of the previous year, with the Guardian Council confirming its acceptance. Nonetheless, the Program and Budget Organization and the administrative and employment organization openly opposed restoring employees’ and retirees’ rights.
These objections to wage increases for workers, government employees, and pensioners come at a time when reports, as per “Faraz Daily,” indicated a 15 to 20 percent salary increase for military personnel. The 13th government had quietly raised military salaries in September, yet other employees, workers, and retirees were neglected in this regard.
