Retirees in Iran frequently take to the streets to voice their concerns, yet the administration under Ebrahim Raisi has failed to offer a viable solution to address their grievances.
According to the ILNA news agency, the weekly protests by pensioners, held every Sunday in front of the Social Security Organization, are prompted by the ‘critical livelihood situation.’ The agency highlights that pensioners’ incomes are ‘one-third of the poverty line.’
Last fall, in response to these protests, the regime increased retirees’ salaries by 900,000 tomans. However, these measures failed to quell the protests, as the primary demand of retirees remains the improvement of their living conditions.
In alignment with civil service management, the sixth plan, and labor laws, pensioners have expressed their discontent across various clauses, primarily focusing on livelihood, trade union, and medical issues.
A staggering 70% of social security retirees subsist on a mere 7 million tomans per month. Even with the 900,000-toman increase, considering the overall inflation rate of about 44%, the recently reported inflation of 47% leaves retirees still lagging behind by 27%.
During the last weeks of each month, retirees find themselves financially strained, placing them among the lower and poorer deciles of society.
The livelihood crisis and issues within pension funds have cast a shadow on the lives of many. The head of Tehran’s Social Security Pensioners Center has declared a reduction in pension amounts to one-third of the poverty line, leading to the emergence of ‘two-job pensioners.’ Ali Dehghan Kia underscores that this dire situation persists even as the government remains indebted to retirees from the previous year.
Dehghani Kia asserts that both the parliament and the government are not adhering to the law, predicting that pensioners will continue to experience rights violations.
As one union activist points out, the 20 million tomans basket for urban household livelihood pales in comparison to the 6 million tomans pension, necessitating the need for a second job among retirees.
Moreover, the ILNA news agency reports the possibility of a 20% increase in pensioners’ salaries in 2024. Retirees protest this proposal, deeming it unfair, arguing that the suggested increase fails to cover even half of the poverty line.
In the new year, the regime appears indifferent to the pensioners’ protests, citing financial challenges faced by the government and pension funds.
According to the Iran Statistics Center, the number of Social Security Organization pensioners surpassed 9 million at the end of 2022, marking a 25% increase from the previous year. In contrast to other nations with three pension funds, Iran has 18 covering around 26 million pensioners on the brink of bankruptcy.
The Parliament Research Center reports that the Social Security Organization has 23 months, the National Pension Fund has 18 months, and the Villagers and Nomads Fund has 10 months of capacity to pay retirees’ pensions.
Currently, the government owes approximately 238 trillion tomans to pension funds, posing a serious risk of bankruptcy for some in Iran. The regime cites financial constraints as the reason for not allowing an increase in pensioners’ salaries, despite promises made by the 13th government.
Eleven years after the parliament passed the law to equalize pensioners’ salaries with those of workers over a specified period, the issue remains neglected. Despite promises from the 13th government, the bill to equalize retirees and employees’ salaries has been withdrawn from the parliament.
