Protest in Front of Parliament; Hundreds of Retirees: Officials Have Forgotten Us

Several hundred retirees gathered in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly on Sunday morning, July 31. According to ILNA news agency, hundreds of retirees from various organizations and institutions, including retirees from education, participated in this protest. The main demand of the protesters was to address their livelihood and healthcare concerns. Retirees, who have previously gathered several times, told ILNA: "The equalization has not been implemented; welfare services are insufficient, and we do not have effective and adequate insurance." A retired teacher participating in the protest said: "The Civil Service Management Law has been forgotten for years; our officials have forgotten retirees. In this bad economic situation and with rampant inflation, the pension we receive does not even cover half a month’s expenses." According to ILNA, retirees, holding placards, called on parliament representatives to take action to resolve the livelihood and welfare issues of retirees. Based on videos shared on social media, protesters chanted: "The incompetent parliament must be closed," "This paycheck is not our right," and "The imprisoned teacher must be freed." Some protesters tore their paychecks. Previously, the challenge of "No to paychecks and legal rulings" was held by teachers in Iran in recent days. According to the 'Khabar Online' website, this challenge coincided with the announcement of new rulings for teachers by the Ministry of Education and a 6 to 10 percent increase in their salaries by some teacher union activists on social media. Earlier, the Secretary-General of Social Insurance of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare announced on July 2 that 35 percent of pensioners live below the poverty line. Ismail Gorji Pour stated that 77 percent of pensioners of the Social Security Organization, assuming they do not have housing, live below the poverty line, and about 20 percent of them receive less than the minimum wage pension. Various methods have been presented for calculating the poverty line in Iran, and for this reason, different figures are reported regarding the number of people below the poverty line. Meanwhile, in recent years, no official statistics on the poverty line in Iran have been announced. At the same time, ILNA reported that the Secretary-General of Social Insurance of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare noted that the real purchasing power of people has decreased, adding that with severe fluctuations in the market, the purchasing power of pensioners will further decline. Previously, a group of retirees from Iranian banks gathered on July 25 in protest of their livelihood situation in front of the pension fund of banks in Tehran. The demand of these retirees was the full implementation of the equalization law and access to welfare services. According to ILNA, these retirees also called for participation in decision-making and the presence of their representatives in decision-making sessions regarding retirees' welfare issues. Protests and demonstrations by workers, employees, teachers, and retirees have intensified in recent months due to the economic situation in Iran and the delayed payment of wages and benefits. Reports indicate that in some cases, these gatherings and demonstrations have faced confrontations with security and police forces. Among these confrontations was the beating and detention of several protesters on May 20 of this year. This gathering took place in front of the Organization for Planning and Budget in Tehran. According to reports from Telegram channels of teacher unions, Mohammad Habibi, a member of the board of directors of the Teachers' Union, was detained after being beaten in front of his wife and other protesters and is currently being held in Greater Tehran Prison. Hossein Taj, Mr. Habibi's lawyer, announced last week that his client is scheduled to be tried on August 1.