Organizations Protest Minimum Wage; Tehran Bus Workers' Union: The Only Way is Unity and Independent Organization

The decision by government and employer representatives in the Supreme Labor Council to set the minimum monthly wage for workers covered by labor law for the upcoming year has sparked a wave of criticism. In this regard, the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Workers' Union emphasized that the only way to confront this assault on the livelihood and life of workers is "unity, protest, and independent organization." According to the decision made by government and employer representatives in the Supreme Labor Council, the minimum wage and benefits for a "married worker with one child" will be around 10 million and 900 thousand tomans next year. In this context, the minimum wage for single workers will exceed 9 million and 480 thousand tomans, while for workers with two children, it will be 11 million and 415 thousand tomans. This decision was announced in the early hours of Tuesday, March 29, while the latest "official calculations" indicate that the livelihood basket this year has exceeded 22 million tomans. However, other figures, such as 25 million tomans, have also been reported. In this regard, the Tasnim news agency reported on March 23 that "according to the announced statistics, the poverty line for a four-person household is about 25 million tomans." Meanwhile, figures have also been announced, such as 30 million tomans and more, which independent labor activists and organizations have emphasized. Additionally, see: Workers' bitterness continues; the determined wage only covers 40% of living costs. Sadegh Kargar, a labor activist residing in Norway, told Voice of America: "The decision of the government and employers is illegal and lacks value and credibility because it contradicts Article 41 of the Labor Law and its provisions, and also because the wage decision was made solely by the employer side without the agreement of a third party." He pointed out: "This year, for the second consecutive year, instead of increasing wages according to the law based on the inflation rate and living costs, they have changed wages contrary to the law without calculating the household cost basket for a family of 3.3, which is at least over 22 million and more than 30 million tomans in metropolitan areas, and manipulated half of the official inflation rate." Mr. Kargar believes that "with this trick, even considering the government inflation rate, at least 50% of the purchasing power of workers and other wage earners has diminished over the past year and this year." This labor activist noted that "the policy of wage suppression and its intensification last year by the extremist government of Raisi and his even more extremist Minister of Labor" made it predictable that the decision to increase workers' wages would be less than the current inflation rate. In this regard, Sadegh Kargar, referring to the statements of the Minister of Labor and one of his deputies on Tuesday regarding the change of the institution determining workers' wages, said: "It is clear that the goal is to eliminate the remaining laws that have even a slight effect, such as Article 41. Although, in fact, before the labor law changes are approved, the government and employers have effectively sidelined the law for two years." According to two provisions of Article 41 of the Labor Law, the minimum monthly wage for workers must be determined based on the inflation rate and the living costs of a household. However, labor activists and organizations have repeatedly emphasized that the government pays no attention to the second provision. Also see: An economist's reaction to setting the "minimum wage": the government should raise workers' wages "like a human being." He also stated that "the critical living conditions of workers and all wage earners will worsen and their tables will become emptier," adding: "As long as this government is in power, the situation will remain the same." Mr. Kargar concluded: "The solution is for workers to realize the situation, expand their protests, and organize their independent organizations, and to unite in a revolutionary movement for fundamental change, fighting together," and said: "Scattered sectoral struggles, no matter how extensive, are not sufficient in this regime to achieve rights." Meanwhile, the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Workers' Union, the Retirees' Union, the Coordination Committee to Help Establish Labor Organizations, and retired workers in Khuzestan issued a joint statement strongly criticizing the Supreme Labor Council under the title "The Assembly of Guardians of the Capitalist System" and its decision regarding the minimum wage for workers in the coming year as a "result of a puppet show," stating: "The outcome of the exchanges was predetermined: the expansion and deepening of absolute poverty among workers and in society for the benefit of capitalists, showcasing power against workers, and promoting a culture of burn and build by the official institution of the Islamic Republic, which is responsible for determining minimum wages and defending the interests of the government and employers." In this statement, it was noted that "according to most forecasts, including forecasts from some official institutions, the inflation rate in 1403 will be much higher than 35 percent," adding: "The purchasing power of a worker whose wage is equivalent to the minimum wage will be less next year than this year, and even if we consider the benefits related to housing, food, children, marriage, and years of service, the income of a minimum wage worker with two children, which was approximately eight million and three hundred thousand tomans in 1402, will reach about 11 million and six hundred thousand tomans in 1403." The signatory organizations emphasized: "Such wages and even wages set for workers above the minimum wage do not solve any of the living costs of the working masses." They also referred to their statement on February 6, in which they stated: "The minimum wage in 1403 should not be less than 45 million tomans" and added: "The struggle for wage increases and other economic and social demands is inseparable from the struggle for freedom and the rights and demands of the working masses, and sincere efforts in accordance with the interests of the working class in each of these areas will assist in the success of the struggle in other areas." The Tehran and Suburbs Bus Workers' Union also stated in a statement that the minimum wage of 11 million tomans in 1403 represents "more poverty and misery" for workers and wage earners. In this statement, criticizing the labor members of the Supreme Labor Council who proposed a lower figure for workers' wages, it was stated that "despite rampant inflation and astronomical increases in living costs, which even 30 to 40 million tomans are no longer sufficient for a four-person family, millions of workers must live on wages three times below the poverty line, which is absolutely unsustainable." This independent labor organization pointed out: "The minimum wage for workers is determined every year in the Supreme Labor Council, which consists of 9 to 10 representatives from the government and employers and so-called labor representatives, and in the name of tripartism and with the claim of workers' involvement in determining their livelihood, the anti-worker decisions of the government and employers are imposed on the working people and wage earners by this very tripartism." Also see: The competition between the poverty line and people's livelihood; an economist: 70% of Iranians are either below the poverty line or at risk of falling. The statement adds: "Due to these representative representatives, any protest against the decisions of the Supreme Labor Council is stripped from the workers, and the capitalist system becomes stronger year by year while wage earners become poorer." The Tehran and Suburbs Bus Workers' Union emphasized that "the fate of millions of workers in this Supreme Labor Council is dragged into greater ruin at the beginning of each year" and added: "For us workers, the Supreme Labor Council is nothing more than a lie; the labor representatives in it have no bargaining power and are only present to justify these unequal relations in that council." This organization added: "Even if they had bargaining power, the final vote is with the majority of members, and if the representatives of the government (the largest employer in the country) and representatives of private employers and the Chamber of Commerce agree on a specific and low percentage, the opinions of the fake labor representatives have no value or worth, and without their input, they determine the wages at their discretion and ultimately impose them on workers in the name of implementing the principle of tripartism." The Tehran and Suburbs Bus Workers' Union also wrote: "The government and other employers know very well that the labor representatives (in the council) do not have the popular and labor backing that is the greatest power of a representative, and since they have entered this council through rent-seeking and with the full support of the regime, they have no way or power to use the power of workers, which is in the streets, protests, and strikes, against the anti-worker decisions of government and employer representatives." The statement of this labor organization, announcing that the lengthy sessions of the Supreme Labor Council are aimed at "silencing workers for any street protests," raises the question: "What reason do workers and tens of millions of working-class households have to entrust their fate to these representatives (of labor)? Why should so much time be spent determining the workers' livelihood basket, only to ultimately approve a very low wage?" The Tehran and Suburbs Bus Workers' Union condemned the minimum wage of 11 million tomans, deeming it unacceptable and a shameless assault on the lives, bodies, and minds of workers and their families. This labor organization concluded that the only way to confront this assault on the livelihood and life of workers is "unity, protest, and independent organization." Gholamreza Gholam Hosseini, a former member of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Workers' Union, told Voice of America: "The resolution of the Supreme Labor Council, like in previous years, was a pre-prepared show, and fundamentally, the individuals who are present in this council as labor representatives do not have labor credibility because to participate in such a council, they must have direct involvement with rent and bribery. However, if these so-called labor representatives want to officially protest in the Supreme Labor Council, their protests will lead nowhere because their three votes against five votes from the government and employers, who are always united and in agreement, will not lead to anything." He added: "Given the current situation and the dozens of times increase in prices compared to the wages of labor, we must think about organizing to overthrow the government to put an end to these puppet shows in all affairs of the country." The independent channel of Haft Tappeh workers stated: "The show is finally over, and the government and employers have cut and sewn the minimum wage through their Supreme Labor Council and imposed it on us." The independent channel of Haft Tappeh workers also noted: "Now it is Herculean work to survive under this inflation and high prices, or not to join the ranks of the homeless, or not to perish from hunger and malnutrition," adding: "This is the state of our wages, while we work honorably, and that is the situation of the Friday prayer leaders like Sadeghi, the family of the first deputy of the judiciary, parliamentarians, and government officials who have launched a world cup of embezzlement, and every day one sets a new record of embezzlement on top of another." The article mentions that the salary of a worker for a month is equivalent to the cost of dinner for the children of those who roam in Velenjak, Lavasan, and the upper city, stating: "For a higher wage, the worker must roll up his sleeves himself." The Iranian Retirees' Council described the current year as "one of the worst inflationary years," stating that "inflation has spiraled out of control and has drained the last breath of life from wage earners." This union pointed out: "Considering the majority of employees in the classification of other wage levels, the real increase in wages for 1403 is only 22 percent, and 35 percent only covers about one-fifth of employed workers." In the statement, this figure is deemed "an assault on the life and existence of a society" and states: "The government's will to suppress wages continues the policy of suppressing society in political, economic, security, judicial, social, and cultural forms." The Iranian Retirees' Council, describing the "police, security, and judicial apparatuses" as "guarantors and protectors of keeping people's livelihoods low for the benefit of capital owners," added: "Working and retired workers have no choice but to demand their real wages through solidarity and intensifying their protests in workplaces and streets." This union emphasized that "this is the real law of a social struggle against a government that tolerates no law other than its own will" and wrote: "If the humiliating resolution of the Supreme Labor Council, which was made by trampling their own laws, is not annulled, we will witness a wave of protests against this mockery of the lives of working and retired workers in the coming days to annul it." The Council for Organizing Protests of Contract Oil Workers also labeled the Supreme Labor Council as "the enemy of labor power," stating that "we will not accept the humiliating wages concocted by the Supreme Labor Council." This council emphasized that "the decision of the Supreme Labor Council is worth nothing to us workers, and we consider it a declaration of war against our livelihoods and all people." Also see: The uniform position of the government and employers in determining wages; a labor activist: they are attacking workers' lives.