Zamaneh Media’s 25th Labor Rights Quarterly Report covering economic issues affecting workers, unemployment, labor protests, strikes, wage issues, and workplace safety from April to June 2023 is available for download.
The upward trend of the inflation rate continues in Iran. By May 2023, the official inflation rate had escalated to 54.6 percent, and inflation for food products soared to an alarming 75.4 percent.
This is affecting Iranian working-class calorie intake per capita. Research Center of the Iranian Parliament in a report on the situation of poverty in the country from 2011-2021 that was published during this quarterly report, revealed that the average calorie intake per person has decreased in Iran to 2198 kilocalories in 2021. The first income decile, the lowest earning families, in 2021 consumed an average of just 1497 kilocalories daily.
It is not just food. According to a report by the Research Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, 55 percent of Iran’s population lacked “adequate and affordable housing” in 2021 and the problem has worsened. The Statistics Center reported an average rent hike of 38.3 percent in April 2023.
The workers are hit with one of the worse economic conditions in the past 40 years, at a time when the government is refusing to increase the national minimum wage in accordance with the cost of living in Iran.
The Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (SWTSBC) likened the approved minimum wage to a “bullet” aimed at the hearts of millions of workers.
Meanwhile, Iran is suppressing workers’ protests systematically. A government directive leaked by hackers reveals the Cultural Deputy of Defense Propaganda of the Armed Forces General Staff issuing several instructions to the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. This directive includes decisions approved by the Headquarters to Combat Hybrid Warfare, which discuss strategies for handling potential worker protests and strikes.
Between March and May 2023, workplace supervisory boards arrested, summoned, or penalized numerous teachers and workers. Several oil and gas contract workers, and labor activists were also detained in Tehran and Kurdistan. In this period, Farzaneh Zillabi, a lawyer representing workers of the Haft Tappeh sugarcane factory, Ahvaz Steel, and teachers of Khuzestan province, was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison. Maryam (Anisha) Asadollahi, the official translator of the bus drivers’ syndicate received a prison sentence of five years and eight months from the Tehran Revolutionary Court.25
This is not stopping labor protests in Iran. Since the end of March, teachers have organized at least three rallies on March 28, April 7, and May 9. Contract workers from the oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors initiated a significant strike on April 21, 2023.
Retirees who are facing a government debt to the pension funds are facing delayed payments. The government debt and budget deficit for the Social Security Organization, are pushing many of Iranian retirees and pensioners into poverty. They have organized nationwide protests every Sunday in the past three months.
Workers in several sectors, including municipal services and smaller manufacturing industries, continue expressing discontent. Long-standing wage delays, temporary contracts facilitating easy employee dismissal, and low wages are the main reasons for workers’ protests and strikes.
To download and read Zamaneh Media’s other labor reports including the special report focused on the plight of the Baluch fuel carriers see our labor page:
