Complaint Against the Government Over Salary Reductions for Some Employees

A group of healthcare workers has filed a complaint against the government due to salary reductions affecting some government employees and has requested the parliament to address the issue. In this regard, Mohammad Reza Saqaiyan-Fard, a representative of some healthcare staff, told the ILNA news agency that the claim of inconsistency with the budget law is unfounded and that "the government has reduced part of the salaries of government employees based on a mistaken interpretation." The protesting employees refer to the clauses in the budget law of 2018-2019, which stipulated that employees earning below certain amounts would receive increases based on a specific formula. According to Saqaiyan, the government has maintained this formula since 2022, resulting in significant deductions in the employment decrees for government employees in 2022 and 2023. Complaints against the government were also raised by the labor community at the beginning of the year. Accordingly, in the early days of this year, the executive director of the "House of Labor" announced the filing of a complaint against the government, hoping to influence the minimum wage decree for 2023. Labor activists, citing clauses one and two of Article 41 of the Labor Law, particularly the second clause deemed "mandatory and unavoidable," have called for the annulment of the 2023 wage decree by the Administrative Justice Court and the resumption of wage negotiations "in an equal and fair environment." This complaint has yet to yield results months later. The first clause of this article of the Labor Law emphasizes that the "minimum wage for workers" must be determined "considering the inflation rate announced by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic," while the second clause insists that the minimum wage "must be sufficient to support a family, the average number of which is announced by official sources." The dissatisfaction of workers and government employees regarding their salaries, alongside unprecedented inflation in Iran, has become a pressing concern for the majority of the population, who are also looking to parliament representatives for solutions. Meanwhile, a member of the Budget and Planning Commission of the parliament announced a 20% salary increase for parliament members at the beginning of May. The neglect of the livelihoods of some employees and workers occurs at a time when Faramarz Tofighi, a labor activist and former representative of workers in the Supreme Labor Council, announced a three million tomans increase in the poverty line in April, from 18 million tomans to 21 million tomans, stating, "Talking about the cost of living basket is more like a joke and resembles a satire." The current situation has led to significant discontent among a large portion of Iranian society, as the latest statistics indicate that 12% of the country's population, or over 10 million people, are classified as workers, with 2.5 million employees also working within the government. Continued labor protests in various regions of Iran are in response to unpaid wages and benefits. The Syndicate of Workers of the Bus Company condemned the "file-making" and "scenario-making" against labor activists. The approval of the seventh development plan by the Islamic Republic government has been criticized by a labor organization as being against the lives of workers. A member of the Supreme Labor Council stated that a mafia-like group interferes in determining workers' wages. A report from the Research Center of the parliament indicates that the inflation rate felt by the people is 86%. A newspaper has again criticized the wage levels, stating that they want to lead society towards unlimited misery. Criticisms of the seventh development plan have been labeled as anti-labor.