A
leaked letter signed by Iran’s Vice President for Legal Affairs
addressed to the Social Security Organization has found its way onto
social media, and disturbed the sleep of workers up and down the
country.
The
letter, which is dated January 27, 2021 and signed by Pejman Mohammadi,
a coordination and planning deputy at the body’s Department of Legal
Affairs, appears to dismantle years of built-up expectations for the
basic treatment of experienced employees.
It
states that from March 2021 onward, any employer in Iran can reconsider
any employee, regardless of his or her background, record and
consecutive years of experience, as a novice worker. He or she can be
offered a new contract based on the minimum wage and benefits without
the standard wage increase, and without taking into account their years
of employment.
Pejman Mohammadi then reacted to workers' protests that erupted on Tuesday, February 9, saying
that the letter was not a hard-and-fast rule and was written only to
help the Social Security Organization amend its software for calculating
premiums and years of service. But labor activists think otherwise.
***
Labor
activists believe that the letter, which was signed by the Vice
President for Legal Affairs and addressed to the Social Security
Organization, deliberately sidelines workers' rights and is contrary to
the general spirit of Iran’s labor laws. They also say the stipulations
it refers to should be annulled as soon as possible.
Ali Khodaei, a member of the Supreme Labor Council, believes
that with these measures the government is testing workers' tolerance
threshold. "The workers are not silent,” he told ILNA news agency, “and
if the letter is not retracted as soon as possible, they can expect a
serious reaction.”
Long-Serving Workers Tested to the Limit
Inflation
and the cost of basic goods are not taken into account when the
government is determining workers' wages. For this reason, while the
poverty line in Iran is currently estimated at about 12 million tomans,
minimum wage is 2.6 million tomans. This is likely to be increased to a
maximum of around 3 million tomans in 2021, still far short of what
employees need to survive and meet their needs.
Abdol
Sheibani, a vegetable oil factory worker in Khuzestan, told IranWire
that despite 23 years of experience, he is still only receiving a salary
of less than three million tomans. He and his children live in
absolute poverty and can envisage no future for themselves.
"In
a time when there is no fair relationship between the worker and the
employer,” he said, “if it were not for the Social Security
Organization's requirement to increase the annual minimum wage, the
employers would have starved us by now. The President and the ombudsman
know that the letter is utterly cruel and inhumane.”
Delayed
wages and payment arrears, as well as the general lack of job security
and the consequences of badly-planned privatizations, have put further
pressure on the working community in recent years.
"Why
doesn’t the Deputy Minister just order the mass suicide of workers?”
Sheibani said. “We’ve faced inflation of several hundred percent and
have extremely unfair wages. But according to this letter, we are to be
denied the same percentage increase in annual income. Do they not see
that the workers are hungry?"
No Real Support from Unions in Hock to Government
Sattar
Rahmani, an activist and member of the International Union for the
Protection of Iranian Workers, told IranWire that he believed the letter
would not be implemented, but that it would be used to give the
employer an excuse to put maximum pressure on employees.
“They
are drawing people’s attention to this letter in order to impose their
desired figures on workers in 2021,” he said. “In spite of inflation,
they want to impose a cap of something close to 25 percent on the
increase to the minimum wage in the coming years. According to Article
41 of the Labor Law, wages must increase according to the general
inflation rate in addition that of the household subsistence basket."
Moreover,
he added, laborers in Iran have no real recourse to an organized body
that will come to their defense. "Bargaining over workers' wages should
be undertaken by impartial representatives of the government, the
employer and the workers' representatives. But in Iran, the government
itself is the largest employer, and the smaller ones are companies that
are dependent on the government. Official workers' representatives, from
the Workers' House and the Supreme Labor Council to the Workers' Union
and the Islamic Workers' Council, are all affiliated with the regime and
are therefore not real representatives. In reality they take money from
the government and act as the baton of the Islamic Republic on workers'
heads."
"If
independent unions existed, they could exert relative control over the
affairs of the workers and, in a way, bring about a balance of power. In
post-revolutionary Iran, independent workers' councils were formed in
many factories and briefly challenged the fledgling regime. But in a
short time, all of them were crushed by the government, and the
independent councils were dissolved and replaced by Islamic councils."
Riding Roughshod Over Labor Laws
Mehri
Jafari, a lawyer and labor rights activist, told IranWire that the vice
president's letter was contrary to the spirit of the national labor law
and also worked in the employer's favor by disrupting the
employer-employee relationship.
“The
law intends to restrict the employer's hand in issuing short-term
contracts, and in extending the contract via a new, basic contract. It
aims to prevent the employer from manipulating wages and changing
working conditions to the detriment of the worker. That is why labor
laws are passed in all countries."
She
believes that although labor law in Iran has huge gaps in terms of the
protection of workers' rights, this particular case is in stark contrast
to the spirit of the labor law in general and to some of its specific
provisions. “The provisions state that the continuation of a worker's
employment, if there is a need for the job, means the continuation of
the contract. Even if the contract between the worker and the employer
has a limited duration but is to be extended for the following year, it
will not be considered a new contract. Considering it as new is a
misinterpretation of the law and contrary to both the collective
inference and the basic rights of the worker."
"How
can a worker who has worked hard for years, accumulated knowledge and
gained experience, be placed on the payroll as if he has just started,
with the lowest level of experience? Nowhere in the world can you use a
worker like a slave in this way.
"The
government seems to be paying attention to its own budget instead of
representing the people. It ignores the salaries of all employees
covered by the Social Security Organization so that it can easily shrink
their contracts and save up enough funds for itself. That is, a
government that is supposed to represent workers' rights is to their
detriment and against them."
Mehri
Jafari looks to the other side of the story: one that shows that wanton
disregard for people’s lives and livelihoods will in turn adversely
affect the regime. "You cannot, with a few thoughtless letters,
destabilize the lives of a large part of society, ignore their
experiences, and sit and watch to see what painful things happen to
them, because the production and service cycle must have two balanced
ends.
"Lawyers,
public figures, domestic organizations and even international labor
organizations must deal decisively with letters and guidelines such as
these, and prevent such decisions from being carried out."
Related coverage:
The Workers' House: Supporter of Trade Unions or Tool of Suppression?
Worker Commits Suicide in Oil Field Because of Unpaid Wages
Netherlands Union Calls on Rouhani to Respect Workers’ Rights
International Trade Union Federation Calls on Iran to Release Activists
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