[Iran] Workers struggle as regime fails to adjust salaries for inflation

The Iranian regime announced it was raising workers’ salaries by 27 per cent at the start of the Persian New Year in March. It was considered an ineffective increase as a result of the country’s skyrocketing inflation, NCRI reports.

The state-run Tejarat News website wrote on November 13, 2022, “The absolute poverty line for a family of two living in Tehran is 320 million tomans,” and “150 million rials for a family of two living in the city’s outskirts.”  

The salary for 14 million workers is reportedly around 40 million rials. If authorities increase it by 27 per cent, it will still only be around 50 million rials while Iran’s inflation hovers above 40 per cent.  

“The 27 per cent salary raise for workers is adopted, but their meagre earnings stay behind the ever-growing inflation. So, they cannot make a living,” the state-run Tejarat News wrote on March 26.  

“The unbridled inflation deprives workers of having a decent life. The workers’ salary is always below the poverty line. Even if they earn 100 million rials, which wouldn’t help them make a living, they should pay taxes, leaving them penniless against the high prices of consumer goods.” 

The regime has thus refused to increase workers’ salaries and it has dug its hands deeper into people’s pockets.  

On March 21, the state-run Eghtesad News website quoted Ali Babaei Karnami - president of the Parliament’s Labor Commission - saying, “The decision of the Supreme Labor Council to increase the minimum wage of workers by 27 per cent is not per inflation rate and the households’ livelihood.”  

This low salary raise reportedly contradicts the regime’s own Labor Law. “According to paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 41 of the Labor Law, the cost of a family of three must be covered by the minimum salary,” the state-run IMNA News wrote in an April 13 article..  

According to the piece, ‘The minimum wage of workers is determined according to the inflation percentage announced by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran,’” the outlet writes, adding, “The government has announced two rates of 47.7 per cent and 43.7 per cent as general inflation and 63 per cent as point-to-point inflation. Meanwhile, the inflation rate calculated to increase workers’ salaries is 27-28 per cent, which is not in accordance with real inflation.” 

In addition to inflation, the prices of consumer goods continue to skyrocket stopping Iranian workers from fulfilling their basic needs. 

“The prices of basic food items have increased since the beginning of the year. For example, the price of each kilo of poultry, which was around 600,000 to 700,000 rials last year, has now reached 840,000 rials. Taxi and bus fares in Tehran have increased by an average of 40 per cent,” the state-run Setar-e Sobh newspaper wrote on April 15. 

In spite of this, Ebrahim Raisi’s government has refused to adopt the 27 per cent salary raise. The regime reportedly has other priorities, such as funding its terrorist proxies; the so-called “axis of resistance.”  

“We declare boldly and publicly that the system insists on supporting the axis of resistance in the region, and we wouldn’t take a step back in doing so,” Raisi stated on April 14.  

Iranians, particularly workers, have a longstanding awareness that the regime and its illicit activities have caused the country’s financial crisis. The ongoing protests and strikes by Iranian workers are a testament to this, as is the popular slogan of Iranians - “Poverty, corruption, high prices, we will continue until regime change” - revealing what they consider a solution to their problems.  

Instead of negotiating with the ruling theocracy and offering incentives that would only help it fund terrorism and oppression, NCRI says the global community should support the Iranian people’s call for regime change and intensify pressure on the ruling regime.

Source: NCRI

(LInks and quotes via original reporting)

The Iranian regime announced it was raising workers’ salaries by 27 per cent at the start of the Persian New Year in March. It was considered an ineffective increase as a result of the country’s skyrocketing inflation, NCRI reports.

The state-run Tejarat News website wrote on November 13, 2022, “The absolute poverty line for a family of two living in Tehran is 320 million tomans,” and “150 million rials for a family of two living in the city’s outskirts.”  

The salary for 14 million workers is reportedly around 40 million rials. If authorities increase it by 27 per cent, it will still only be around 50 million rials while Iran’s inflation hovers above 40 per cent.  

“The 27 per cent salary raise for workers is adopted, but their meagre earnings stay behind the ever-growing inflation. So, they cannot make a living,” the state-run Tejarat News wrote on March 26.  

“The unbridled inflation deprives workers of having a decent life. The workers’ salary is always below the poverty line. Even if they earn 100 million rials, which wouldn’t help them make a living, they should pay taxes, leaving them penniless against the high prices of consumer goods.” 

The regime has thus refused to increase workers’ salaries and it has dug its hands deeper into people’s pockets.  

On March 21, the state-run Eghtesad News website quoted Ali Babaei Karnami - president of the Parliament’s Labor Commission - saying, “The decision of the Supreme Labor Council to increase the minimum wage of workers by 27 per cent is not per inflation rate and the households’ livelihood.”  

This low salary raise reportedly contradicts the regime’s own Labor Law. “According to paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 41 of the Labor Law, the cost of a family of three must be covered by the minimum salary,” the state-run IMNA News wrote in an April 13 article..  

According to the piece, ‘The minimum wage of workers is determined according to the inflation percentage announced by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran,’” the outlet writes, adding, “The government has announced two rates of 47.7 per cent and 43.7 per cent as general inflation and 63 per cent as point-to-point inflation. Meanwhile, the inflation rate calculated to increase workers’ salaries is 27-28 per cent, which is not in accordance with real inflation.” 

In addition to inflation, the prices of consumer goods continue to skyrocket stopping Iranian workers from fulfilling their basic needs. 

“The prices of basic food items have increased since the beginning of the year. For example, the price of each kilo of poultry, which was around 600,000 to 700,000 rials last year, has now reached 840,000 rials. Taxi and bus fares in Tehran have increased by an average of 40 per cent,” the state-run Setar-e Sobh newspaper wrote on April 15. 

In spite of this, Ebrahim Raisi’s government has refused to adopt the 27 per cent salary raise. The regime reportedly has other priorities, such as funding its terrorist proxies; the so-called “axis of resistance.”  

“We declare boldly and publicly that the system insists on supporting the axis of resistance in the region, and we wouldn’t take a step back in doing so,” Raisi stated on April 14.  

Iranians, particularly workers, have a longstanding awareness that the regime and its illicit activities have caused the country’s financial crisis. The ongoing protests and strikes by Iranian workers are a testament to this, as is the popular slogan of Iranians - “Poverty, corruption, high prices, we will continue until regime change” - revealing what they consider a solution to their problems.  

Instead of negotiating with the ruling theocracy and offering incentives that would only help it fund terrorism and oppression, NCRI says the global community should support the Iranian people’s call for regime change and intensify pressure on the ruling regime.

Source: NCRI

(LInks and quotes via original reporting)