Cultural Organizations' Reaction to the 1403 Budget Bill: Increased Pressure on Teachers and Retirees

Three cultural organizations in Iran issued a statement declaring that the 1403 budget bill increases pressure on teachers and retirees. The secretaries-general of the three cultural organizations, namely the "Islamic Teachers Association of Iran", the "Teachers' Organization of Iran", and the "Cultural Association of Islamic Iran", stated in a statement released on January 1 that the main flaw of the 1403 budget is the "lack of a separate line item for the budget for the equalization of retirees' salaries and the continuation of teachers' ranking with a stable financial source." According to the draft of the 1403 budget bill, a one percent increase in taxes is planned, and the payment of overdue salaries for retirees and teachers' credits will be covered by the amount returned to the treasury from this one percent. In this statement, the cultural organizations criticized the referral of teachers' demands to "a tax that is not in the treasury" and stated, "Conditioning the payment of salaries and credits for the implementation of the equalization of retirees' salaries and the continuation of teachers' ranking on the increase of 1 percent in value-added tax is a suspension of the government's biggest promise regarding the equalization of retirees' salaries and the continuation of teachers' ranking in 1403." The three cultural organizations warned that the current implementation of ranking has led to more injustice and that the approval of the current budget will result in additional oppression against active and retired teachers. The statement demands that the budget related to retirees should be doubled, explaining that in this bill, "an amount of 50 trillion tomans is provisionally allocated for the implementation of 40 percent equalization of retirees' salaries, while the implementation of this clause requires at least 100 trillion tomans in funding." Furthermore, the statement calls on government officials to draft and approve the executive regulations of Article 85 of the Management Services Law to create a coordinated and uniform supplementary insurance for active employees. The three cultural organizations reiterated that their main demands, which should be anticipated in separate clauses in the 1403 bill, include the payment of overdue ranking payments to retirees covered by the teachers' ranking law and the payment of all demands and overdue payments for state retirees. They also demand an appropriate budget for teachers' ranking and adequate funding for the proper and quality management of the education system in all areas, amounting to at least 4 percent of the estimated gross national product in 1403. The educators warned that if the government continues to ignore their demands and repeat its past failures in securing these costs, "next year we will face very serious problems that will destroy trust and further exacerbate the gap between educators, retirees, and the government." The main protest against the 1403 budget bill from educators is the one percent tax increase to compensate for the government's debt to teachers and retirees. Previously, the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association questioned, if the claim of increasing taxes is aimed at securing resources for payments to retirees, why is all the income from this one percent increase not allocated to retirees? They addressed the government, asking, "Why are you trying to impose additional pressure on all sectors of the nation in a year when you have increased the tax share in the budget, in the economic crisis you have created, taking from the pockets of active and retired workers and then attributing the expenditure to retirees?" The Iranian Teachers' Trade Association expressed full support for the legal rights of retirees and their right to protest in the form of legal gatherings, urging the government and parliament to fulfill the retirees' needs "without advertising tricks and lies" for once. In recent years, state retirees, including retired educators, along with retirees from social security, telecommunications, and steel, have repeatedly held protests against their difficult living conditions and those of their families.