Late Meetings of the Supreme Labor Council; Labor Activist: They Want to Take Away Workers' Right to Protest

On Wednesday, March 9, the Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare announced that meetings of the Supreme Labor Council to determine the minimum monthly wage for workers will begin next week. In this context, Sadegh Kargar, a labor activist residing in Norway, stated in an interview with VOA that the delay in holding council meetings and consequently announcing wage increases is a way to "take away the opportunity for workers to protest." The Supreme Labor Council in the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for determining the minimum wage for workers covered by labor law, and it is chaired by the Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare. According to ILNA news agency, Soulat Mortazavi expressed hope for reaching "a reasonable and desirable decision" while noting that the Ministry's Labor Relations Department is currently reviewing indicators. He stated that "the government and the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare do not determine the minimum wage." This statement comes at a time when independent labor activists and organizations, as well as those recognized by the government, have repeatedly emphasized that the government always defends employers' positions in wage negotiations and ignores workers' rights. In this regard, one can refer to the opposition of government officials, especially Soulat Mortazavi, to reconsider the minimum wage for workers covered by labor law this year. Currently, the inflation rate is about 45%, and the monthly cost of living, according to government-affiliated labor organizations, is at least 25 million tomans. Last week, ILNA also reported based on "independent calculations" that the livelihood basket for working families in major cities has reached 28 million and 900 thousand tomans. According to this news agency, the indicators from the Statistical Center of Iran show that the inflation rate for food items has been a total of "145%" over three consecutive years from September 2020 to September this year. Meanwhile, the minimum wage for married workers with children covered by labor law is about 8 million tomans. However, this wage is not even paid in workshops and companies that are outside the scope of labor law. Furthermore, the meetings of the Supreme Labor Council will begin next week to decide on the minimum wage, while previously, the request of its labor members from official organizations to hold meetings this summer was rejected by the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare. Sadegh Kargar, a labor activist residing in Norway, attributed the delay in holding the council's wage determination meetings and consequently announcing wage increases to "taking away the opportunity for workers to protest." He stated: "With less than a month remaining until the end of the year, the discussion on the wage increase for next year, which according to the laws of the Islamic Republic should be announced by the Supreme Labor Council after reviewing and agreeing among its members based on Article 41 of the Labor Law and its two notes, remains unresolved." The two notes of Article 41 of the Labor Law emphasize that the criteria for determining the minimum wage are inflation rates and the cost of living; criteria that have been ignored by the Supreme Labor Council. Kargar pointed out: "As usual, the negotiations of the Supreme Labor Council for determining the wage for the next year start two to three months before the end of each year, and people are informed of it through the media. However, this year, the wage discussion has not yet been on the agenda of the Supreme Labor Council." He emphasized: "The delay in determining and announcing the wage, regardless of any excuses they provide, is to surprise workers and take away their opportunity to protest for managing protests at a more opportune time." This labor activist added: "This delay largely indicates that the wage increase is lower than what would meet the minimum expectations of workers." Reports from the media and some positions of Islamic Republic officials indicate that the wage increase for workers next year will be around 20%. Two weeks ago, Soulat Mortazavi's statements also reflected this issue. Sadegh Kargar told VOA: "In the Islamic Republic, neither the wage law has been respected nor do wage increases relate to living costs," and added: "In this regard, wage suppression and the violation of workers' rights have never been as extensive and harsh as under the government of Ebrahim Raisi, and no minister has oppressed workers as much as Raisi's Minister of Labor has." He referred to the statements of Islamic Republic officials, including the Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, regarding a 20% wage increase and the dismissal of one of the labor members of the Supreme Labor Council, adding: "The goal is to make workers dependent, obedient, and cheapen labor power." Kargar also stated: "Government officials and employer institutions have long been preparing the ground for wage increases below the inflation rate under the pretext that wage increases will lead to higher inflation." Regarding the wage suppression of workers in Iran, Touraj Abouzarakhani, a journalist and labor activist residing in Germany, told VOA: "The suppression of workers' wages has been imposed on workers since the start of the Iran-Iraq war under the pretext of wartime conditions, and gradually continued even after the war, to the point that workers were practically defined in the prevailing economic and political relations as part of a new slavery." He pointed out that the minimum wage of 8 million tomans for workers and the poverty line of 30 million tomans in the year 1402 (2023) indicate that economists in the country have announced that 50% of the population lives below the poverty line. In such conditions, Hamid Reza Imam Gholi Tabar, an inspector of the Supreme Assembly of Workers' Representatives, announced that of the 96% of workers who have temporary contracts, 35% do not even receive their legal benefits. Abouzarakhani noted: "This statistic is mentioned while a much larger portion of workers in various trades do not even have a work contract, and their wage conditions are far worse." According to him, "If during slavery, a slave had a roof over their head and food, today Iranian workers do not even have this minimum level of living." Touraj Abouzarakhani also stated: "It is no wonder that due to such wage suppression and rising inflation, Iranian workers and even Afghan workers no longer want to work in Iranian factories." He added: "Skilled workers are migrating to neighboring countries, and unskilled workers have turned to informal jobs and taxi driving, reluctantly accepting inhumane and slave-like conditions." Meanwhile, Sadegh Kargar, alongside the discussion of the minimum wage, referred to other government actions against wage earners, such as reducing retirement bonuses and cutting production increases and wage benefits, warning: "It is highly likely that the government will not be satisfied with this either, and if there is no serious resistance and struggle from workers and wage earners against this unprecedented attack of poverty and misery, and if it does not lead to fundamental changes in governance, unfortunately, we should expect much harder days ahead." Kargar viewed the only solution for workers and all wage earners as expanding and organizing protests, combining professional demands with political demands, with the aim of preparing the ground for a nationwide general strike, stating: "Only in that case will protests yield results." Touraj Abouzarakhani also believes: "In a country where independent organizations have no right to operate and have been suppressed for decades, government-created organizations, whose function is limited to being a facade for the government, cannot respond to workers' demands; in such conditions, there is only one way left, and that is to fight in the streets."