Even though the new the minimum wage was discussed and set during the final months of the Iranian year, in January and February, it has now been announced that in order "to prevent layoffs" the actual level is going to be less than half that amount!
The minimum wage for the new Iranian year (beginning on 21 March 2007) should have been 4 million rials ($432) a month. In order "to prevent layoffs", however, the Iranian regime's Labour High Council, has decided to fix the monthly minimum wage for the new year, 21 March 2007-19 March 2008, at 1,830,000 rials ($198) a month. Even Abbas Vatanpoor, the Secretary of the Co-ordination Council of Employers, the Iranian bosses' organisation (equivalent to the Confederation of British Industry or Conseil du Commerce de France), had to admit that this is about 219 percent less than the minimum set during a meeting in January.
Yet the phoney 'workers' representative' appointed by the government, while questioning the validity of this new lower minimum wage, tried to justify it. Since he is really a government agent, selected to sit on the Labour High Council, a tripartite body which also includes government and employers' representatives, he defended the new lower level by saying that "the employers' ability must be taken into account" so that layoffs and cuts in the workforce can be avoided!
Of course, even the original minimum wage would have been totally inadequate for most workers. In a society where the official inflation rate is 14 percent, yet the real price of food has gone up by 20 percent during just the past few weeks, the official prices for basic necessities like chicken or meat mentioned in government statements published in newspapers bear no relation to the prices in any shop.
In addition, the minimum wage, no matter what its level, only applies to workers covered by the Labour Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Labour Code, which the regime keeps revising because it is thought to be too favourable towards workers (!), now specifies that workshops with less than 11 workers are exempt from its provisions. First, the regime set the three or less workers' limit. Then, in February 2000, the limit was raised to five or less workers in a workshop. This meant that, at a stroke, 2.8 million workers, that is, 40 percent of the workforce at the time, had no legal protection whatsoever. Finally, in January 2003, this limit was again increased to ten or less workers. This meant that a majority of workers, including carpet weavers and others in small and rural workshops, many of whom are women, are totally at the mercy of their bosses.
The new draft
amendments to the Labour Code being discussed will extend the
exemptions to contract workers. This will rob some 90 percent of
Iranian workers from the measly minimum wage, the paltry 100,000 rials
($10.81) housing aid and daily bonuses of 1,250 rials (¢14) that bosses
are also supposed to pay every worker with one year's work experience
(according to Article 41 of the Labour Code).
So
where can the workers look for help? It certainly is not going to be
their MP. A few months ago, Baztab, a news website, asked 20 MPs
whether they knew the price of meat. Just one MP knew the correct
price! Members of the Islamic regime's 'parliament' have no idea how
much anything costs - nor do they care. It is obvious that even the
most populist of MPs and leaders are not interested in the daily lives
of workers and the great mass of the population.
During the past few years Iranian workers have on many occasions demonstrated, protested and gone on strike demanding pay rises - most recently the teachers. The only support they have received in their struggle for their just demands has been from workers in other countries. It is through international workers' solidarity that we can all help Iranian workers gain their just rights and be successful in winning concessions from the bosses and the government that will allow them to have a decent standard of living.
Help us show Iranian workers that they are not alone. Show your solidarity by signing the petition and joining in the other activities of the Iranian workers are not alone campaign.
Iranian Workers' Solidarity Network
9 April 2007