A labor activist for Iranian construction workers criticized the working conditions of construction workers, stating that their insurance has faced serious obstacles and has been halted.
He also mentioned that construction workers are not entitled to early retirement benefits, and even if they are insured, their lives and health are at risk.
According to the regime’s ILNA news agency, Mohammadzadeh, a labor activist for construction workers in Kermanshah, stated that while construction work is one of the most difficult and hazardous jobs, accounting for more than half of the country’s work-related accidents, it is not considered a hard and hazardous occupation by law.
This labor activist emphasized that a construction worker, after 30 or 40 years of paying for insurance, cannot retire due to occasional interruptions in their insurance. He stressed, “In fact, this worker has to keep working as long as they are alive.”
In continuation of the anti-labor actions of Iran’s regime, the Ministry of Labor, issued a directive on June 16, eliminating the possibility of early retirement for workers.
On May 29, the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, by issuing directive No. 57, clarified the situation for contract workers and placed all responsibility on the contractor.
According to this directive, the main employer has no responsibility. With the implementation of this directive, a worker who has had contracts with several different contractors during their employment at a single workshop may remain indefinitely delayed in early retirement.
Mohammadzadeh, the labor activist, reported that in many provinces of the country, not a single new worker has been insured in recent years.
He stated that construction workers “often become old and incapacitated but do not retire,” and in an interview with ILNA, he emphasized, “They are forced to quit working due to old age and illness without receiving a single rial of retirement pension.”
Earlier, in January 2024, Akbar Shokat, head of the Association of Construction Workers’ Trade Unions, said, “The insurance of about 300,000 people has been cut off in the past three years.”
He emphasized, “No new workers are being insured, and about 500,000 people are waiting for insurance.”
In May 2024, Ali Ziaei, head of the Crime Scene Investigation Group of the National Forensic Organization, reported the deaths of 2,115 workers and the injury of 27,000 workers due to work-related accidents in 2023.
Ziaei stated that falling from heights has always accounted for the largest share of work-related accident fatalities. He added that last year, 983 victims of workplace accidents lost their lives due to falls from heights, accounting for 46.5% of the total fatalities.
Following this, ILNA news agency, in a report criticizing the “statistical cover-up by the Ministry of Labor,” wrote that these statistics mean the death of 5.79 workers every day of the year.
