Iranian workers are under unprecedented pressure. Under the tyrannical rule of the mullahs, Iran’s workers are not only suffering from low wages, lack of job security and social and health insurance, but they’re also deprived of the most basic rights that every worker in the world should enjoy. The increasing downturn in Iran’s economy has led to an ever-growing economic and social crisis manifested in unprecedented rates of unemployment, poverty, and inequality.
The Secretary of the “National Workers’ Associations (ICEA)” criticized proposals such as “paying 70 percent of the wages to workers under 20 years old to solve unemployment,” saying that such proposals are not “effective.”
The regime’s Majlis Research Center presented recommendations in a report for the “solution to the unemployment problem” in the Seventh Development Program, one of which suggests that, in order to reduce the youth unemployment rate, the minimum wage specifically for individuals under 20 years old and without insurance history should be reduced to 70 percent of the approved minimum wage.
Currently, the minimum wage for workers covered by the labor law, who are married and have a child, is about 80 million rials (approximately $155) per month. However, according to reports published in the official news agencies, hundreds of thousands of workers employed in small workshops, known as “Under the stairs,” who are not covered by labor laws, are deprived of receiving this wage.
Hadi Abavee, the Secretary of ICEA, responded to this proposal by saying to the state-run Tasnim News Agency: “This proposal, in a different way (employment of students through internship programs and similar initiatives), has been pursued years ago and has not yielded results. However, in conditions where workers do not engage in work due to low wages, the implementation of such proposals is not effective.”
He pointed out: “Due to reasons such as low wages, workers are not willing to work. Employers have repeatedly requested workers, but workers do not accept.”
Hadi Abavee emphasized that “the livelihood of workers must be seen as real” and added: “The reality of society is that the cost of workers’ livelihood is much higher than their income. Since such income is not seen for a worker in a job, the worker is forced to constantly seek a job that has better income. Therefore, the implementation of such proposals is not effective.”
The approved minimum wage for workers is 43 million rials (approximately $83), and with the calculation of other benefits, it reaches about 80 million rials for a married worker with one child, which logically, for the target of this plan, which is workers under 20 years old, considering the wages, 70 percent of the amount will be close to that 43 million rials.
Such plans will not even accomplish the goals that the government institutions seek to achieve. Because an unemployed person would prefer to engage in other jobs, such as transportation services, ridesharing, and even working in underground jobs, as they can possibly earn higher income.
For over three decades, after the enactment of the labor law, the regime has always tried to continuously violate the rights of workers by enacting new provisions or amending some of the provisions of the law or approving regulations.
These acts are justified by the regime as efforts to solve the problems of workers or other sectors of society, however in fact, it is nothing but the expansion and deepening of investment, looting, and further exploitation of workers and the community’s resources.
On the surface, actions are announced to reduce unemployment, control inflation, equalize laws, and similar matters, but in reality, the regime only aimed at seeking more profit, ruthless exploitation of workers, and deepening the slave-like relationships against the entire working class in Iran.
These conditions have effectively reduced the status of Iranian workers to that of ancient slaves, being deprived of all the rights that have been gained during the last hundred years through the suffering and struggle of Iranian workers. They have no right to organize movements; no job security or even minimum safety standards in factories and workshops; no right to protest; and the regime’s response to every protest and strike is imprisonment and torture, or at least dismissal from work.
