Hundreds of Workers Protest Against the Transfer of Social Security Healthcare Resources to Government Treasury

Hundreds of workers and retirees from the Social Security Organization gathered on Wednesday, February 21, in protest against the approval of clause "Z" of the seventh note of next year's budget bill by parliament representatives in front of the Guardian Council. According to clause "Z" of the seventh note of the budget bill submitted by the government to the parliament, "Management of part of the resources and revenues of the Social Security Organization was approved by the representatives, and following this approval, the healthcare share from the total basis of insurance premium deductions will be centralized in the government treasury under the title of Social Security healthcare insurance." According to ILNA news agency, based on the parliament's decision on Sunday, "The Social Security Organization is obliged to centralize all healthcare shares from the total basis of insurance premium deductions in an account at the government treasury under the title of Social Security healthcare insurance." This approval was passed with the government's proposal in parliament, while, according to a statement from labor and employer members of the Supreme Labor Council published on Tuesday, February 20, "Governments in Iran have avoided depositing their three percent share into the Social Security Fund for many years." Mohammad Ali Tofighi, a manager of the Social Security Organization residing in Paris, stated in an interview with Radio Farda that the approval of clause Z "negates the financial independence of the Social Security Organization" and added that the organization's charter explicitly states that the financial resources of this organization belong to that entity itself. He added that the income sources of the Social Security Organization are not public resources, meaning oil, and depositing part of this income into the government treasury is "illegal and even un-Islamic." According to ILNA news agency, the protesters in front of the Guardian Council stated that "the healthcare rights of workers are not part of the public assets of the country" and said: "Anyone who confuses these two does not understand rights and does not belong in the Islamic Consultative Assembly." The protesters referred to the 110 parliament representatives who voted for clause "Z." According to this report, the participating workers and retirees of Social Security called on the Guardian Council to "prevent encroachment on workers' assets." The call for this gathering was made by the Union of Veteran Workers and the Supreme Council of Islamic Labor Councils of the country. According to this report, Hassan Sadeghi, the head of the Union of Veteran Workers, criticized the parliament's approval of clause "Z" by stating that "they are auctioning off the assets of workers in the Social Security healthcare fund" and criticized the parliament's action. Hassan Sadeghi described the parliament as one that "attacks the weak and supports power against them." In another part of his speech, he said: "A parliament that the poor cannot enter and where supporters of wealth come to power results in the law being disregarded." Mr. Sadeghi stated that the Social Security Organization has reached the brink of bankruptcy today, saying: "The condition of the Social Security Organization is such that no one should intend to encroach on the assets of the insured, and the situation should not be made more miserable for the insured." Olia Ali Beigi, the head of the board of directors of the Supreme Council of Islamic Labor Councils of the country, was another speaker at this gathering who criticized the "unholy alliance of the government and the parliament of the representatives of the state" and said they have "colluded to plunder the assets of workers." He emphasized that the Social Security Organization, based on its charter, is "a public and non-governmental entity" and added: "Its financial resources belong 100 percent to workers and retirees." Ali Asghar Bayat, the head of the Supreme Council of Retired Workers across the country, also stated that "until now, workers and retirees have remained silent in the face of encroachments, but we can no longer sit idly by." He pointed out that there are currently more than three million Social Security retirees in Iran, saying: "If we multiply this number by any figure, we reach the conclusion that at least seven million Social Security beneficiaries live, and the government must pay attention to their livelihood. Now the government not only has not fulfilled this minimal duty but also intends to plunder their assets." Additionally, Ali Khodaei, a member of the board of directors of the Supreme Council of Islamic Labor Councils of the country, accused the parliament of "issuing a legal permit for encroachment on the assets of workers in the Social Security healthcare fund." Akbar Shokat, a member of the board of trustees of the Social Security Organization, also criticized Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, for repeating a "dark day" for workers and added that he has "mourned the most vulnerable segment of society, which is the workers, over the Social Security Organization." He criticized the Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education, saying that "if some people in the Ministry of Health do not have the capacity to implement the health transformation plan, what do they have to do with the assets of workers, which have been burdened with exorbitant healthcare costs? Right now, an appendectomy that used to cost one hundred thousand tomans is now performed for no less than nine hundred thousand tomans or one million tomans. The health transformation plan has brought public resources to the brink of disaster, and now they want to subject workers' resources to the same fate." Mr. Shokat addressed Hassan Rouhani, saying: "Workers who earn 700 to 800 thousand tomans should not be subjected to oppression and discrimination" and noted: "Today, other funds are also not in good condition, and they are also stuck in the mud." He had previously stated that the government has not only failed to pay its debts to Social Security but has also proposed and implemented a plan called the health transformation plan, which has placed the burden of its costs on workers. This member of the board of trustees of the Social Security Organization emphasized that workers are not supposed to pay for the costs of the government's incorrect and unprincipled plans, especially when the government does not pay their basic salaries and their demands from the government have skyrocketed. Previously, Hossein Ali Shahriari, a member of the Health and Treatment Commission of the parliament, had stated in a television program in November of this year that "we are facing a shortage of financial resources to the extent that state centers have not received their claims for over a year. Meanwhile, the government's debt to hospitals and treatment sectors is increasing day by day." According to ILNA, Soheila Jaloudarzadeh, a member of parliament, also protested the approval of clause "Z" by her colleagues in the legislative body at the gathering on Wednesday, saying: "One side cannot work and the other side come and overturn all equations to their detriment. Some have imagined that the Social Security Organization is a soft and juicy morsel, but this Social Security Organization that has been imagined as a soft morsel belongs to the workers and will forever belong to the workers." Hossein Habibi, the secretary of the Coordination Council of Islamic Labor Councils of Tehran province, also stated: "We have come to obtain the dismissal of cabinet ministers and also demand the removal of the 110 representatives who voted for the approval of clause Z." In recent years, labor organizations have repeatedly criticized government decisions that they claim have been detrimental to workers in Iran. These criticisms have included privatization of factories and the exclusion of workplaces with fewer than 10 and 5 workers, as well as free zones from the labor law. Mr. Habibi also mentioned that labor organizations are seeking to annul the parliament's decision through "legal complaints, the 90th principle commission, and the Guardian Council." Previously, Asghar Ahaniha, a member of the employer's side of the Supreme Labor Council, had described the parliament's decision on Sunday, February 18, as an "unpopular" action that "violated the financial and administrative independence of the Social Security Organization." Mr. Ahaniha added that the Social Security Organization is "a public non-governmental institution whose resources are jointly financed by the expenses of workers and employers, and the main duty of this organization is to ensure a peaceful work and production environment by providing social insurance services to the workforce." He also stated that "right now, the incorrect implementation of the health transformation plan and the deviation of the Ministry of Health managers from implementing the referral system and family physician is one of the serious criticisms of the labor and employer community against the government... and as a result of the selective implementation of the health transformation plan, the financial resources of the Social Security healthcare fund are on the verge of being plundered." Protests against the budget bill for 2018 regarding the Social Security Organization have been expressed at a time when the parliament's research center had previously warned about the possibility of bankruptcy of this organization within a decade and stated that the crisis of this bankruptcy is so severe that the government will not have the capacity to intervene. This center in its report pointed out that due to the wide geographical coverage and diversity of the groups covered by the Social Security Organization, the bankruptcy of this organization could lead to widespread economic and social unrest in the country. ILNA news agency, News Network, and news sources / B.K.