Members of Iran’s Supreme Labor Council’s Wage Committee are criticizing the government’s attempt to reduce the scope of the “workers’ livelihood basket” used to determine minimum wage increases.
According to the Khabaronline website, Alireza Mirghafari, a committee member, said essential items were removed from the basket despite union insistence on their inclusion. This reduces the overall value of the minimum wage increase.
Mirghafari emphasized that excluding these items significantly impacts the minimum subsistence amount. He estimates the reduction could be over two to three million tomans.
The controversy stems from a recent report by the Ministry of Health. The report lowered the daily calorie requirement per person, effectively reducing the cost of the food basket. This allows the government and employers to argue for a smaller wage increase.
Union representatives are pushing back. Majid Rahmati, head of the Wage Committee for Tehran’s Islamic Labor Councils, countered with his own calculation. He claims a family of four in Tehran needs 32,850,000 tomans for a basket with 3,000 daily calories based on February prices.
The national average subsistence basket is estimated at 26,550,000 tomans. Importantly, a report by the Jamaran website found that 38% of food items experienced inflation exceeding the annual rate in January.
