Whispers of Merging Pension Funds; A Labor Activist: 'It's a Calamity'

Iranian media report whispers regarding the merger of 'empty and looted' pension funds. In this context, a retirees' rights activist has described this action as 'another calamity' for the people, which will lead to an 'even darker time' for retirees. According to a report by the government news agency ILNA on Tuesday, January 1, Ahmad Fatemi-Araees, the head of the social committee of the budget consolidation commission in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, stated that the government must present a bill to the parliament to resolve the fate of the merger of the country’s pension funds, including Keshavarzi, Homa, and Foolad, with social security, as the government owes 500 trillion tomans to social security. This member of parliament noted that the Islamic Republic government must take action for the merger of the funds as it is '700 trillion tomans in debt to social security.' Fatemi also mentioned that '200 trillion tomans' of this debt is expected to be considered in the form of securities, but 'after settling another 500 trillion tomans, the government must present a bill to the parliament to clarify the situation.' Following these statements, ILNA warned about the 'declining living conditions of retirees,' who currently receive 'one-fourth of the poverty line salary,' and quoted Youssef Mohammadi-Manesh, a social activist for social security retirees, stating: 'Any agreement without considering the opinions of the real representatives of workers and retirees is fundamentally rejected.' Mr. Mohammadi-Manesh pointed out that 'the government's debt to the social security organization is much greater than the amounts announced by Ahmad Fatemi,' telling ILNA: 'Due to the existing inflation and the annual decline in the value of the national currency, the payment of debts should be calculated at current prices; if the debts had been paid in those earlier years, the status of the social security fund would not be what it is today.' This retirees' rights activist stated that the four-year governments of the Islamic Republic 'are only concerned with solving their own problems,' and regarding the 50-year-old social security organization, they have a maximum medium-term view, adding: 'In relation to the organization [social security], governments should play a more facilitative role rather than being administrators and imposers.' Youssef Mohammadi-Manesh emphasized that this action will lead to 'an even darker time for social security,' asserting: 'There is no doubt that merging empty funds like the Foolad retirees' fund with social security will only exacerbate the crisis of imbalance in the social security fund, yielding no other results.' The renewed proposal for merging pension funds, which was previously suggested in the 2023 budget bill and removed, comes amid ongoing protests over the livelihoods of retirees from various institutions and organizations in recent years. The expansion of protests by various groups, including retirees, workers from different industries, teachers, defrauded individuals, nurses, and healthcare workers, indicates increasing livelihood problems in Iran and the indifference of the Islamic Republic officials. In response to these protests, the Iranian government has intensified security and judicial crackdowns on independent labor activists, teachers, and retirees. Currently, several of these activists are imprisoned on security charges. Amid the continued decline of the Iranian rial against foreign currencies, especially the US dollar, which is currently priced at about 82,000 tomans in the free market, Salman Zaker, a member of the parliament's industries commission, has warned of a potential 'famine' in Iran, stating that if 'imbalances continue at this level, the likelihood of famine exists.' In reaction to the moment-by-moment increase in the dollar rate in the Iranian free market, Mohammad Reza Farzin, the head of the Central Bank, claimed that 'the dead-end channel,' a media outlet that reports the prices of foreign currencies and gold in Iran, is 'registered in America, and all its servers are also in America,' and daily 'determines the dollar rate for all exchange offices in Iran from 9 AM.' However, Prince Reza Pahlavi has described this situation as 'the latest achievement of the incompetent regime of the Islamic Republic and the proxy government of Ali Khamenei,' calling for support from various professional groups for each other's protests. According to him, 'It is through the solidarity and unity of all segments of the Iranian nation that we can achieve the greater goal of freedom and salvation for Iran.'