Over 50% of Laboratory Workers in Iran Have Been Transferred to the Private Sector as Simple Laborers

Habibollah Fazelian Dehkordi, the secretary of the Clinical Laboratory Society, stated on Sunday, June 6, that between 50 to 60 percent of laboratory workers in Iran have been transferred to the private sector as simple laborers with the basic salary set by the Ministry of Labor. This labor activist told ILNA news agency that after the privatization of laboratories, a significant number of expert workers were laid off, and 'those who remained must endure with minimal wages.' In Tehran, 'over 80 percent of workers' have been transferred to the private sector. According to him, for 'laboratory owners,' it makes no difference whether they use specialized staff with standard wages; 'they bring in a few unskilled workers and deliver distorted results to the public.' In recent years, many reports have emerged regarding the negative outcomes of privatization of companies and factories on the workforce. Nevertheless, the leader and officials of the Islamic Republic have repeatedly defended this policy and emphasized its implementation. According to ILNA, the secretary of the Clinical Laboratory Society stated that the demands of the 'approximately 40,000' laboratory community have 'remained unanswered' despite significant activism in recent years. He pointed out that the laboratory community, despite the hard work, especially in the private sector, is deprived of its benefits and 'cannot benefit from early retirement or other hard work advantages.' Mr. Dehkordi added about the unfulfilled demands of this community: 'We have raised this issue several times that a laboratory expert, educated and specialized, should not receive the basic labor wage, but we have not received a response,' and he considered joining the job classification plan as one of the essential demands of this profession. He mentioned that laboratory experts, with 'minimum wages set by the Ministry of Labor,' have no choice but to take second and third jobs and 'drive taxis to pay rent.' The outsourcing of hundreds of specialized laboratory personnel to the private sector occurs while previously, the president of the Iranian Internal Specialists Association reported the laboratories' inability to provide equipment due to high prices and announced that laboratories have resorted to providing test result sheets without conducting tests and using old devices and kits with a very high error rate to avoid bankruptcy.