While Iranian media have reported that the government has deducted 10 million rials from the pensions of retirees in March, the head of the Retirees Association of the Social Security Organization says they were supposed to pay the debts of retirees of this organization to the “Petrochemical Shares.”
In this regard, Parsineh newspaper wrote: Retirees’ March salaries have been deposited under conditions where, without notification and permission, 10 million rials (approximately $17 which is around one-eighth of the minimum wage for workers) have been deducted from their accounts, and text messages have been sent by the Retirees’ High Association of Social Security to retirees and pensioners, stating that the Social Security Organization is in the process of creating a cooperative company for retirees and investing in the shares of companies. This process will be realized through participation in the auction with the allocation of 150 million rials (approximately $252) in cash deductible from the March pension.
In response to this news, the head of the Retirees Association of Social Security Organization told the regime’s Fars News Agency: “It was agreed that 52% of the shares of Amir Kabir Petrochemicals would be transferred to the retirees of this organization, and it was said that pensioners who do not wish to buy these shares can withdraw by sending a withdrawal text message.”
Some experts say, firstly, the Retirees’ High Association has no right to establish any investment institution, and this action is against its articles of association. Secondly, this investment trick can lead to major abuses by creating a layer of capitalists and, with the credit of a trade union, wipe out the meager rights of retirees.
This is happening while, according to reports, a group of retirees from the Social Security and National Pension Organization gathered on March 10 in protest of the economic situation in several cities, including Arak, Isfahan, Ahvaz, Shush, and Kermanshah.
The continuation of economic protests in Iran is happening while an economic media outlet, by examining official data from the government’s central statistics agency, reported that since the inauguration of the government of Ebrahim Raisi in 2021 until now, that is, in the past three years, the prices of essential goods have grown between 125% to 290%.
