Continued Livelihood Protests in Iran; Simultaneous Gatherings of Telecommunications Retirees in Several Provinces

Protests by retirees of the Telecommunications Company of Iran took place on Tuesday, December 4, in front of telecommunications offices in various provinces. At the same time, retirees from the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) gathered in front of the Bilal Mosque in Tehran. According to reports received by Voice of America and published on social media, the protests of retirees and pensioners from the telecommunications company, which are held weekly under the title "Protest Tuesdays," also took place on December 4 in at least the provinces of Tehran, Isfahan, Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Hamadan, Golestan, Lorestan, Zanjan, Kurdistan, East Azerbaijan, and Ardabil. During these gatherings, slogans such as "Telecommunications has perished, it has fallen into the hands of bullies," "Retiree, shout out, demand your rights," "If one embezzlement is reduced, our problem will be solved," "Costs are in dollars, our salaries are in rials," "Livelihood dignity is our legitimate right," and "Incompetent minister, resign, resign" were chanted. The weekly protests of telecommunications retirees in recent months have been in response to unmet demands, including the implementation of regulation 89/24 and benefits such as supplementary insurance. The executive regulation of Article 24 of the Civil Service Law, passed in 2010, concerns transferable duties and how to purchase services from the private sector, under which "until the obstacles to transfer are removed," the provision of services to the workforce remains the responsibility of the executive body, namely the government. However, 13 years after the approval of this regulation, and considering the repeated and continuous protests of these retirees, it seems that neither the "obstacles to transfer" have been removed nor has the executive body fulfilled its duties towards the protesters. Simultaneously, reports indicate that a number of retirees from the IRIB gathered on Tuesday in front of the Bilal Habashi Mosque of this organization in Tehran. Livelihood protests in various sectors, including retirees from the public sector, social security, and the telecommunications company, alongside gatherings and strikes by workers and employees in various industries, are ongoing in Iran, while the government is seeking to raise the retirement age. Previously, the Free Union of Iranian Workers strongly criticized the approval of the government's plan to raise the retirement age, calling it an act of "exploitation of the corpses of workers and pensioners." Additionally, economist Jamshid Asadi described the parliament's approval of raising the retirement age as a "terrible" method for "creating money" and stated that this action by the government and parliament "significantly increases inflation and breaks the backs of people under expenses."