Bahar News, a state-run website in Iran, has addressed the issue of job security for workers. It highlights the pressing problem of job insecurity and the absence of proper labor contract arrangements in the job market, affecting a significant portion of the workforce.
According to statistics, a staggering 96% of employment contracts are temporary, leading to issues such as the lack of insurance coverage and inadequate compensation. Small workshops with fewer than ten employees also face unique challenges, as certain labor laws may not apply to them.
The website discusses the detrimental impact of temporary contracts on workers, emphasizing that extending a labor contract for a specified period doesn’t automatically make it permanent. This means that a worker who has been with a workshop for many years, despite multiple contract renewals, might risk losing their rights merely due to the expiration of the contract term, potentially leading to violations of their rights.
Fattollah Bayat, the head of the Union of Contractual Workers, has shed light on the dire situation, revealing that more than 96% of the country’s official workers are currently on temporary contracts.
He explains that ‘official’ workers in Iran are those employed in positions with specific insurance codes or registered in workshops with designated workshop codes, with their employers paying insurance premiums.
According to labor laws, these workers are entitled to receive the approved salary, overtime compensation, legal leave, and retirement pensions.
Bayat points out that only 4% of these workers enjoy formal employment status. Others, he explains, are ‘workers’ who, either because they work in positions without insurance codes (often informal jobs) or in workshops without specific codes, solely rely on their employers’ discretion for the benefits prescribed by labor laws. This group may not have insurance coverage, receive approved wages, or be eligible for pensions.
Despite numerous promises from the regime’s officials to reform labor laws and the establishment of various committees to enhance job security for workers, no effective measures have been taken to date, and to date, job security remains the primary concern for workers.
According to Bahar News, the Deputy for Labor Relations has spoken about labor law reform on several occasions but without tangible results. Many workers believe that the lack of job security is due to lax law enforcement.
Regarding job security, Bayat states, ‘Today, none of the country’s workers have job security because over 96% of the country’s 15 million workers are on temporary contracts, ranging from 89-day contracts to one-month, three-month, and six-month contracts. Some even work without formal contracts, relying on verbal agreements, promissory notes, and pledges.
These workers are at the mercy of their employers and often do not receive their dues. Therefore, it can be concluded that over 96% of employment contracts lack security.’
He adds, ‘Unofficial estimates suggest that there are about 5 million informal workers in the country, working without any employment contracts. Foreign workers are entirely absent from the country’s employment records. This diverse group, whether they are official workers with precarious temporary contracts or informal workers without contracts, share the burden of job insecurity.’
When examining the statistics provided by the regime, it becomes evident that the livelihoods of workers are hanging by a thread. Bayat comments, ‘About 20 million workers, burdened with job insecurity, struggle to provide for their families and live in constant fear for their future.’
These statistics raise concerns as there is still a lack of accurate data on informal workers, as Bayat notes, ‘We do not possess precise statistics regarding informal workers. There is no comprehensive record of their numbers.’
