A Member of the Wage Committee of the Supreme Labor Council: With This Wage, Workers Cannot Even Afford Food

A member of the Wage Committee of the Supreme Labor Council stated on Friday, March 9, that the wage structure needs fundamental reform as the gap between wages and the economic realities of society has made current wages insufficient to meet the basic needs of workers' families and cover their food items. Mohammad Reza Tajik, in an interview with Tasnim News Agency, pointed out that workers' wages are always lagging behind inflation by a year, adding that in recent years, representatives of the government and employers in the Wage Committee have sought to shrink workers' livelihoods and reduce living costs, rather than providing expert opinions for a standard and desirable life. In this context, the Ministry of Health reported to the Wage Committee that it reduced the daily caloric needs of individuals by making fundamental changes to the food basket, so that the government and employers could insist on a minimal wage increase based on that. Mohsen Bagheri, a worker member of the Supreme Labor Council, referred to a meeting of the Wage Committee on Wednesday, March 7, where the Ministry of Health unveiled its new food basket and, in a completely unilateral and illegal action, introduced a basket without the presence of social partners, which significantly reduced the warmth of many items in the basket. He emphasized that in the new basket, the daily bread consumption needed for each individual has decreased by 30 grams. According to Mohsen Bagheri, about 10 grams of meat consumption has been reduced; that is, while the previous basket defined daily meat consumption at 48 grams, this amount has dropped to 38 grams in the new basket, and fruit consumption has decreased from 280 grams to 200 grams. This action by the Ministry of Health occurred at a time when workers are currently unable to meet their minimum food needs, and experts believe that an average worker requires 2,800 calories daily, which rises to at least 5,000 calories daily for harder jobs. Accordingly, relying on the necessary figures for daily caloric intake, Mohsen Bagheri pointed out that this amount has been severely reduced in this basket, and this reduction will also reflect in the livelihood basket. The Islamic Republic government has always sought to suppress workers' rights and wages, and alongside banning the activities of organizations and unions, it has consistently tried to keep wages low. Some experts believe that this year the government is also trying to increase the minimum wage by 20 percent through statistical manipulation and coordination with employers. In this regard, perhaps the most important statement that clarifies the official position of the government is the remark by Davood Manzoor, head of the Planning Organization and deputy of Ebrahim Raisi, who stated on March 3 that the government has considerations regarding the increase in workers' and employees' wages, which are determined based on the issue of 'expected inflation.' Currently, the minimum monthly wage for workers covered by labor law, who are married and have children, is about 8 million tomans. This is while this wage is not even paid to workers who are not covered by labor law. In this situation, ILNA news agency reported that according to the latest independent calculations, the livelihood basket for workers' households (minimum living costs in a month) based on inflation data from Azar in major cities has reached over 28 million tomans.