Zamaneh Media’s 24th Labor Rights Report focusing on labor rights issues from January through March 2023 is available for download:
The value of the dollar as a standard commodity has a direct impact on the economy of goods and services in Iran. Due to the plunging Iranian money value and the increasing inflation rate, the workers have been hit hardest. The Iranian riyal continues to lose its value and Iranians continue to pay essential goods prices with international rates rising the price of food and the livelihood basked of Iranian workers every month. In January 2023, The Statistical Center of Iran reported a rent inflation rate of 44 percent and the monthly inflation rate for housing surged to 10% due to the fluctuation in USD exchange rate, leading to a rise in the number of workers who are now unable to pay rent.
Since mid-December 2022, workers’ protests have trended upward, with delayed wages and low salaries accounting for the leading cause of labor protests in the first quarter of 2023. While retirees accounted for the highest frequency of rallies this winter, workers in the municipalities, service industry, and mining and construction industry factories also protested for delayed and low wages, the non-implementation of job classification plans, and the elimination of job benefits.
Municipal workers in different cities continue to experience significant delays in wage payments. In some cities, municipal workers have waited over one year for their wages. The wage arrears have also reached one year in the cities of Yasouj and Sisakht, located in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad provinces. In the public services sector, the workers responsible for the technical construction and maintenance of the Qom railway line have not received wages for at least three months. In Ardabil province, Meshginshahr Water and Sewerage organization contract workers are owed nine months of wages. Construction industry and mine workers in Derakhshan Copper Mine, Arya Steel Mine, Khash Cement Factory, Abadeh Cement Factory, Jam Tile Factory have also not received their due wages between three to ten months.
Oil industry workers held sit-ins or rallies several times this winter to protest low or delayed wages and tightening workplace security environments.
More than 60,000 nurses that account for half of Iran’s nursing force continue to work on temporary contracts. Nurses under temporary contracts get paid less with fewer benefits under several contracting companies and they continued to protest the non-implementation of the law on the wage ranking and bonuses for medical and nursing services, delayed wage payments, dismissals, and wage discrimination. Employees of Iranshahr University of Medical Sciences in Sistan and Baluchistan province, Qazvin nurses, Tehran Clinic nurses and medical staff, and nurses and employees of Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in Ahvaz are among those who protested during this period.
As the end of the Iranian calendar year approached in March 2023, the frequency of union protests increased, primarily driven by delayed or insufficient wages. The government is grappling with a budget deficit ranging from 350 to 500 trillion tomans (1 USD = 47,000 tomans so around 10 billion USD). As the new Iranian calendar year 1402 (March 21, 2023) approached, the Supreme Labor Council, set the monthly minimum wage at 5,308,284 tomans (110 USD) and about eight million tomans (160 USD) with child and housing benefits. This is significantly lower than the estimated subsistence basket which was calculated at 18 million tomans (360 USD) and the poverty line cutoff of around 14 million tomans (280 USD).
You can download all Zamaneh Media’s Labor Rights Reports including our latest special report focused on the plight of the Baluch fuel carriers at Zamaneh’s labor page:
