Does International Workers’ Day represent a celebration of dignity and status for Iran’s labor force? Do they gather in national jubilation? The grim reality—particularly over the last four decades—answers with a resounding no. For the Iranian worker, May Day is a rare outlet to voice outrage against wholesale exploitation, to cry out against the crushing cost of living, and to demand fundamental, life-sustaining rights.
May Day serves as a stark reminder of the deepest class divide in Iran’s history. It is a hijacked nation where the ruling clerics have monopolized all capital, production resources, and mineral wealth, stripping them from the workers and the general public to hoard as their personal fiefdoms.
Mass Worker Layoffs in Iran’s Industries Under the Shadow of War
For Iran’s workers, wage-earners, teachers, female heads of households, and the broader working class, the daily grind has morphed into a nightmare of runaway inflation and deepening poverty. Every day is a struggle with no end in sight. Astonishingly, after 47 years, Iranian workers still lack independent labor unions or recognized representatives.
The totalitarian clerics have driven the economy to the brink: by May 2026, the exchange rate plummeted to a staggering 1,850,000 Iranian rials to a single US dollar. Under these draconian conditions, workers must spend much of their lives languishing in long queues just to secure bread, medicine, and basic necessities. Their monthly wages evaporate before the month is half over: “The workers’ representative in the Supreme Labor Council announced that the cost of the livelihood basket for a working family this year has reached about 40 to 45 million tomans per month, while the minimum wage for workers is about 15 million tomans. To bridge this gap, the minimum wage should reach around 31 million tomans”.
For day laborers, the catastrophe is even more acute: “The daily wage for a worker in 2026, according to the Supreme Labor Council, was set at a mere 5,541,850 Rials for 8 hours of work.”
The demands of the Iranian working class remain unchanged from decades past, still focused on securing the bare minimum of legal and occupational rights: “The prohibition of child labor and the provision of free education for them, the establishment of the highest safety standards in workplaces, and the elimination of discriminatory laws for women and migrant workers are among the demands of the labor community.”
Meanwhile, the backbreaking exploitation of female workers has intensified significantly over the past decades, driving women to grueling labor even in brick kilns: “Iranian female workers are described as the cheapest labor force in the country. Women’s employment status is worse than men’s, and they receive fewer legal protections, wages, and benefits. The situation for women in small workshops is far worse. Half of the workers in brick kilns are women, working under grueling conditions.”
The interplay of domestic unemployment and the hiring of foreign nationals at suppressed wages has exacerbated the labor and housing crises, driving up poverty and emigration. This impasse remained unresolved through the late summer of 2025: “Mohammad Hossein Mesbah, an economic expert: In the Abbasabad industrial town, almost all factories were semi-closed. The main reason is the lack of workers. Job ads are everywhere, but no workforce can be found… Iraj Rahbar, head of the Tehran Mass Builders Association, emphasized that over 50% of construction workers in the capital were Afghan nationals, and with their departure, many construction projects have been disrupted.”
Over the past year, while economic strangulation has squeezed the life out of the working class, their physical safety has also been sacrificed to a dire lack of occupational security—fatalities the state media routinely ignores: “In the past 12 months (May 2025 to May 2026), at least 586 workers lost their lives in workplace accidents. Independent organizations recorded another 302 fatalities that were ignored by officials. Due to the lack of transparency by authorities, most work-related accidents never reach the media.”
A core driver of the widespread labor protests over the past year has been the pushback against the privatization of state-owned factories and enterprises. In response to these peaceful demonstrations, the regime’s security and intelligence apparatus has slashed wages, and even arrested and imprisoned workers to protect the interests of state-aligned employers and oligarchs. Yet, the sheer persistence of these rallies and strikes underscores the unyielding will of the workers against their oppressors: “Over the past year, a total of 682 labor rallies, 691 trade rallies, 383 labor strikes, and 39 trade strikes have occurred.”
Ultimately, the resolution to the Iranian labor movement’s crisis cannot be found solely through trade-unionist avenues. The reason is glaringly obvious: the rights and destiny of Iran’s workers are inextricably linked to the broader struggle for freedom, equality, human rights, and the total dismantling of the Velayat-e Faqih dictatorship.
