At the time of writing these words, the budget bill for 2019 has not yet been presented to the Islamic Consultative Assembly. However, Kazem Jalali, the head of the parliamentary research center, has stated that there are two opinions regarding the rights of workers and employees in the coming year. One is that these rights should increase by 20%, and the other is that they should increase gradually.

In the midst of discussions and negotiations between the parliament and the government on how to increase the wages of workers and employees, experts estimate that the poverty line in Tehran is more than 25% higher. The Parliamentary Research Center has announced that “the highest monthly poverty line for Tehran province was calculated at 2 million and 76 thousand tomans for a family of four in 1395 (2016-2017) and is estimated to be around 2 million and 728 thousand tomans in the summer of 1397 (2018-2019).”

On the other hand, it seems that this number is much higher than these figures. Naser Chamani, vice president of the High Council of Trade Unions, announced a decrease of one million and one hundred and eighty thousand tomans in the cost of workers’ livelihood compared to last year and says, “Last year, before the approval of workers’ wages, the cost of household livelihood was two million and four hundred and eighty thousand tomans, which after Eid and the beginning of exchange rate fluctuations, the gap between the minimum wage of workers and inflation increased and the purchasing power of workers decreased significantly; in a way that now this gap has reached one million and one hundred and eighty thousand tomans and the monthly cost of household livelihood for workers has increased to more than three million and five hundred thousand tomans.” (3) But it seems that even these numbers and figures of the officials of the High Council are not accurate and there is disagreement among scholars. More than a month after the vice

I talked to his employer. He said that his worker lives in Chahardangeh, Tehran, with his wife and child. His child is two and a half years old and is already working to make ends meet until he can go to school. But now he needs clothes, food, and a life to live and raise his child. His father, however, works as a laborer. With a basic salary of one and a half million tomans per month. He also works overtime, earning 10,000 tomans per hour, and works extra to support his wife and child. The number one and a half million is a significant difference from what the leaders and vice presidents of the Workers’ Guild Association say. It means that this worker, with his wife and child, is living with a significant gap from what the union leaders call a worker’s life. And he is only promised that this gap will be compensated for. When and how, of course, is not clear.

By the way, he rents out the fish for 500 thousand tomans, out of which he stays for a month and covers the expenses of his house, wife, and children with one million tomans, the common currency of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In this situation, woe to the state where the desired worker also has a share. And woe to him if he also has interest on his loan. The numbers and figures of the interests are astronomical; in a country where they claim its laws are Islamic and in which usury is forbidden.

There is a lot of talk and discussion. Mohammad Reza Tajik, representative of the Supreme Assembly of Workers’ Representatives in the Supreme Council of Labor, speaks about the poverty and lack of motivation among workers. Apparently, he is not aware that the issue is not about motivation or lack thereof. The issue is about having enough food to eat and keeping the stomachs of women and children full. The issue is that a worker with a salary of one and a half million tomans (which is slightly higher than the minimum wage and means that some workers in Iran are barely making ends meet) and an average monthly cost of around or more than three million tomans (which, considering the real cost of living in Iran, seems to be a gross underestimate) cannot even afford to complain. This salary and the situation of this worker, and many others like him, means that his child cannot receive an education (in a time when even elementary education has turned into a form of child labor), he cannot

The situation is so unfortunate that Fathollah Bayat, the president of the Union of Contract Workers, is asking the government to increase the minimum wage and housing rights for workers.

The problem is not only sanctions, but also the fact that sanctions are used as an excuse. Systemic corruption and rent-seeking have taken root in the heart of the government, weakening it from within. State-owned companies are being privatized under the guise of implementing Article 44 of the Constitution. These pseudo-private entities are owned by rent-seekers who have both money and power. They control both economic resources and high positions of power in the country. They are everywhere, from the cultural and media spheres to other economic sectors. Just looking at those who have registered petrochemical companies in their names in the past two decades, or those who are now owners of steel and cement industries, shows their dependence on positions of power. In fact, if we assume that an independent private sector can restore balance by competing with each other, in Iran there is no truly independent private sector. Others have come in with companies that have multiple dependencies and have taken ownership, pocketing billions in profits. This trend

But the workers, despite all this underlying economic corruption, continue to work in Iran, passing each day and sewing the beginning of the month to the end in order to survive. Farāmarz Tavakkoli, the representative of the workers in the Supreme Council of Labor, speaks of the decrease in consumption of protein in the workers’ meals and the increase in consumption of unhealthy food. In fact, inflation, or as Tavakkoli calls it, the price hike, not only empties the pockets of the workers, but also endangers their lives. (7) This issue is not just about these workers themselves. It is about the children of these workers who are supposed to be the future builders of this country; and all this while the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran are dreaming of a population of over one hundred million in Iran and have turned demography into a security issue, dealing with those who work in the field of population reduction in a hammering and security manner.

“Above all, she is a graduate of the country. The young girl has studied well and has also experienced courses outside of her academic studies. She earns one and a half million tomans, but her employer has adjusted the number of employees under the pretext of the company’s poor economic situation, and has put their work on the shoulders of the young girl and her colleagues, all of whom are graduates of this country, with the same salary. The girl is not satisfied with this situation, but she says that if she leaves this company, it is not clear if she will be able to find a job soon. The girl is single, but imagine if a woman who is the head of a household, has studied like her and earns the same salary. If she works 10 hours a day, how will she be able to live with this money? The situation is so obvious that it does not need any explanation. From a long time ago, when numbers and figures were mentioned, it became

But imagine if these same rights were not paid for one month, two months, six months. The basic salary that is less than one million and five hundred thousand has been mentioned so far. What disaster will come upon the family of that worker? And then should we really ask why workers in Haft Tappeh, Foolad Ahvaz, Gostaresh-e Ahangarh-e Azarbayjan, and hundreds of other factories and workshops across the country are striking and protesting against their situation?

There is an index in the field of economics called the poverty line. It can be simply defined as a combination of inflation rate and unemployment rate. However, it seems that to describe the labor situation in Iran, one must find a place much lower than the poverty line. The type of economic management in Iran in recent decades should be taught as a kind of catastrophic disaster in universities around the world, and then a line and index should be invented for it, called the Destruction Index! The labor force in Iran is working around this index and a triangular sign with a red circle is posted, stating “Workers are working” and underneath it reads “And dying from poverty!”

Notes:

1. The Possibilities of Increasing Workers’ Rights from the Perspective of the Head of the Parliamentary Research Center, Tasnim, December 13, 2018.

2. A 25% increase in the poverty line in one year, ISNA, December 11, 2018.

3. The latest figure for the cost of the workers’ livelihood basket was announced, ISNA, November 26, 2018.

4. What is the gap between wages and the cost of living for workers? ISNA, December 19, 2018

5. Workers below the poverty line have been kept, Eilna, December 17, 2018.

6. Increase the number of workers, offer a basket of goods! ISNA, December 15, 2018.

7. Travel ban for workers from approved food by Nutrition Institute, Mehr, 11 Azar month 1397.