A Newspaper's Criticism of Wage Levels: They Want to Lead Society to Unlimited Misery

An Iranian newspaper published a critical report on the decision-making process regarding the percentage increase in workers' wages this year, accusing decision-makers of wanting to lead society towards 'unlimited misery.' The Ham-Mihan newspaper, based in Tehran, noted the approved wage rate by the Supreme Labor Council, stating: 'Whoever sat down and approved this item, regardless of their moral accountability, has shown that they have at least no understanding of people's lives and want to lead society towards poverty and unlimited misery.' The newspaper added: 'A four-person household, if it only eats bread, yogurt, sweet tea, and sugar, and has no other expenses including housing, clothing, transportation, healthcare, and education, cannot survive with these costs and this wage.' According to Ham-Mihan, 'Those who write laws for the weakest segment of society earn dozens of times more than this amount and also enjoy various facilities and privileges.' The Supreme Labor Council, which consists of representatives from the government, employers, and workers, increased workers' wages by 27% on the last day of the previous year, raising the minimum wage from 4,127,000 tomans to 5,307,330 tomans. A few days ago, on June 1st of this year, a member of the 'Supreme Labor Council' pointed out the government's failure to fulfill the promise of 'controlling inflation,' stating that the only solution is for wages to increase logically based on the inflation rate, just like other economic components. Ali Khodaei, in an interview with the ILNA news agency, emphasized that due to the existing inflation, 'the effect of the wage increase in the first month has been nullified.' Khodaei implicitly criticized 'government data manipulation' and considered 'the realities at the grassroots level' as a significant issue for the people, sarcastically stating: 'Changing numbers will not add bread to people's tables.' This member of the Supreme Labor Council described the prevailing conditions affecting workers' households, stating that the reality is a 'severe decrease in workers' purchasing power,' such that a worker's monthly wage covers a normal life for a maximum of ten days. The prevailing conditions in this segment of society have led to the emergence of strikes known as 'Campaign 1402,' with a series of widespread strikes by workers in various sectors protesting against the lack of wage increases and the governance of the Islamic Republic, ongoing since the beginning of Ordibehesht (April 20).