While hundreds of thousands of construction workers in Iran are waiting to receive insurance coverage, Abbas Shiri, a labor activist and inspector of the Supreme Association of Construction Workers’ Trade Unions, stated that from 2020 to 2025, fewer than 50,000 workers in Iran have been covered by insurance.
On Thursday, July 24, in an interview with the state-run ILNA news agency, Shiri said: “For example, in Qom Province during this period, only 460 workers were insured, while we have around 300,000 to 400,000 workers waiting for insurance.”
The labor activist criticized the slow process in addressing the workers’ situation and stressed that during the previous administration, the issuance of trade union licenses faced serious delays and political considerations prevented follow-up on the livelihood conditions of construction workers.
He added: “With the introduction of the amendment to Article 5 of the Construction Workers’ Insurance Law, a proposal to increase funding was submitted to the Majlis (Iran’s parliament), and it took four years for the plan to be finalized. However, the approved plan has so far failed to achieve anything.”
Earlier, on May 9, 2025, labor activist Davoud Keshvari stated that more than 500,000 construction workers in Iran are without insurance, describing the denial of insurance to such a number as nothing short of a social catastrophe.
At that time, this labor activist called the allocation of only 4,000 to 5,000 quotas for 500,000 workers “insulting,” and said it means a worker has to wait for 10 years just to access his most basic right—insurance.
Alongside these criticisms, other labor activists also warned about the critical situation of workers’ insurance.
In another part of his interview with ILNA, when asked “What is the current status of insurance for construction workers?”, Shiri responded: “Some time ago, a meeting was held with trade unions and Social Security officials, and a directive was drafted to improve the insurance process.”
However, he emphasized that the directive has fundamental flaws and, unless it is revised, it cannot meet the workers’ needs.
On May 19, Pejman Jozi, head of the Construction Industry Association, announced that more than 97% of workers lack insurance coverage due to not having a skill certification card.
At that time, he said: “In 2022, only 42,000 workers managed to obtain skill cards, while we have more than 1.6 million active construction workers.”
Reports show that the discrepancy between official statistics, insurance capacity, and on-the-ground realities reveals the depth of the structural crisis in providing social support for construction workers.
