Workers living below minimum wage in Iran: Union Chief

Iran Focus: Tehran, Dec. 25 – The acting director-general of the workers’ union of the city of Shahre-Rey (southwest of Tehran) yesterday said that workers were currently living below the poverty line. Ali Tarkashvand said that workers desire to work with dignity with the hope of earning salaries to be able to have a reasonable lifestyle. Iran Focus

Tehran, Dec. 25 – The acting director-general of the workers’ union of the city of Shahre-Rey (southwest of Tehran) yesterday said that workers were currently living below the poverty line.

Ali Tarkashvand said that workers desire to work with dignity with the hope of earning salaries to be able to have a reasonable lifestyle. Currently the only thing the workers have is their dignity and nothing else, he added, referring to the fact that, workers’ present salaries is nowhere near enough to cover their daily expenses.

The union chief went on to say that currently there is talk of a ten percent inflation which would affect the already-soaring price of basic household products. Tarkashvand said that over the past year the price of many products had increased at an overwhelming speed, in some cases increasing by over 50 percent.

“Inflation is caused by those who don’t have to worry about the price of bread; with massive personal wealth and salaries of millioners who don’t have to worry about the price increases. However workers earning just 106,000 Toumans ($120), suffer extreme difficulties from even the smallest inflation increases,” he said.

He called for an end to government corruption, which is widely suspected to be a fundamental cause of Iran’s economic setback.