Disregard for Wage Revision Request; Labor Minister Says to Negotiate Yourself

As inflation pressure on working-class households has peaked, the Labor Minister, contrary to his previous promise, refuses to revise wages and states that workers should negotiate for higher pay with employers. Economy 24 has reported on the wage margins this year, stating that neither workers nor employers are satisfied with the approved wage rate, especially since the basic wage for workers is also referenced and calculated for many other sectors such as employees of private companies, experts, journalists, etc. This situation comes despite the Labor Minister's earlier promise during the wage determination for this year that he would revise wages if inflation increased. Now, contrary to his previous promise, on August 21, Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, Solat Mortazavi, regarding the further increase in workers' wages, said: 'According to the law, there is only one opportunity per year for wage increases, but workers can negotiate with employers.' On the other hand, just one day after these remarks, representatives of workers in the Supreme Labor Council wrote a letter to Solat Mortazavi, requesting a new meeting of the Supreme Labor Council to adjust the 2023 wages of workers. Recently, an official reported a new problem for employers, stating that employers' concerns have shifted from a lack of resources and working capital to labor supply, and in some provinces, 'workers cannot be found.' These remarks by Mahmoud Karimi Biravand come at a time when no significant developments have occurred in job creation, and experts attribute this issue to the unattractiveness of official wages for workers. On August 1 of this year, the Secretary of the Supreme Council of Workers' Associations stated that these days workers are looking for ideal jobs in terms of income and 'are not willing to work under specific regulations.' Hadi Aboui emphasized that factory production lines need workers, but they cannot be found. Protests by retirees in several cities in Iran; 'Both the parliament and the government are lying to the nation.' Protests over the livelihoods of telecommunications retirees in 12 provinces of Iran; protests by metro workers in Tehran. Low wages and inflation have made fake jobs and migration attractive; in some provinces, there are no workers. Concerns of Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers about the possibility of the company being privatized again. Criticism of the head of the Central Bank of Iran; Trade News: The selection of economic statistics continues. Retired civil servants protested in eight cities in Iran. The Minister of Islamic Guidance reported statistics on the distribution of 'Gheymeh'; government officials are thinking about an Islamic government while people suffer from poverty.