120% Wage Lag Behind Inflation Over Six Years

A Tehran-based newspaper reviewed the performance of governments over the past six years, reporting a 120% lag of wages behind inflation as claimed by government sources. However, experts believe that this gap is more than 120% due to people's perceptions of rising prices and changes in how inflation is calculated. The Ham-Mihan newspaper, in its issue on Monday, October 1, reported: 'Some workers and their families have signed a petition asking the President to submit the 2024 wage adjustment bill based on the inflation announced by the Central Bank to the Parliament.' The report criticizes the performance of governments, asserting: 'It is the inflation rate that manages workers' wages, not the programs and solutions of the Minister of Labor and the government.' In this context, Asghar Ahaniha, a representative of employers in the Supreme Labor Council, told the newspaper: 'Until inflation is controlled, the issue of workers' wages will not be resolved.' Alireza Mirghafari, a representative of workers in the Supreme Labor Council, also stated to Ham-Mihan that 'some issues raised by the minister, such as the link between productivity and wages or regional wages, are secondary, and he must address the core issue fundamentally.' Mirghafari also emphasized: 'Considering the suppressions that have occurred in previous years, even increasing wages to the level of inflation will not meet the needs of a family’s livelihood.' In this regard, the Vice President of the Workers' Assembly of Tehran Province reported on September 16 the workers' request for a meeting of the Supreme Labor Council to review wages. Mohammad Baqer Motani emphasized, 'In a year when the minimum cost of living is 17 million tomans, how was the wage set at nine million five hundred thousand tomans?' According to Motani, despite inflation exceeding 40%, the government and employers united for about a 30% wage increase. Workers' protests and requests for a wage review stem from the government's disregard for their living conditions in determining the 2024 wage, which, with ongoing inflation, has placed workers' livelihoods in a critical situation. According to the latest calculations, the livelihood basket has reached over 30 million tomans in major cities and the capital, and 22 million tomans in smaller cities. Meanwhile, the government news agency Tasnim reported on March 13 last year during the wage determination that 'according to announced statistics, the poverty line for a four-person household is about 25 million tomans.' Nevertheless, the government and employers reached a decision in the Supreme Labor Council meetings at the end of last year, which worker representatives in the minimum wage determination committee refused to sign. Although this refusal did not affect the final decision due to the composition that the Islamic Republic's labor law considers for the Supreme Labor Council, the government issued the committee's resolution for implementation. The Secretary-General of the Nurses' House stated that the reason for the lack of nurses in hospitals is hard work and low wages. The budget for one of the IRGC's headquarters has increased fourfold. Protests and strikes by workers, teachers, and retirees continue. An increase in gasoline prices is expected 'next year'; a member of parliament states it will be between 15 to 20 percent. A security media report narrates the increase in poverty among workers; poverty is spreading in Iran.