Parliamentary Representatives Request Increase in Workers’ Minimum Wage

Parliamentary representatives in a statement requested the government to increase workers’ minimum wage to 2 million and 800 thousand tomans considering the livelihood situation of workers. 27 representatives have filed a complaint against the Labor Minister for undermining workers’ rights.

Representatives of the Islamic Consultative Assembly issued a statement requesting the government to reconsider determining the minimum monthly wage of workers given the “livelihood situation and problems of workers, social security retirees, and pensioners.” In this statement, which was read in the parliament chamber on Wednesday, April 27, 1399 (April 15, 2020), representatives called for a wage increase and demanded setting at least 2 million and 800 thousand tomans per month as the minimum monthly wage for workers.

Parliamentary representatives addressed the Supreme Labor Council, stating that workers’ problems in the livelihood sector require special attention and consideration, noting that “the minimum wage and pension set should be consistent with the minimum wage set in provision 12 of the 1399 budget, which is 28 million rials.”

The statement states that considering the 41 percent inflation announced by the Central Bank and taking into account current economic problems, “no worker should receive less than 2 million and 800 thousand rials in wages.”

After months of delay, last week’s session of the Supreme Labor Council (on April 20, 1399) convened to determine the minimum wage for workers in 1399. Without reaching a tripartite agreement among the government, employers, and workers, the minimum wage for workers in the new year was set at 1 million and 835 thousand tomans, a figure that did not align with the inflation rate announced by the government. Worker representatives in this session, with strong criticism and in protest of the “violation of Article 41 of the Labor Law,” refrained from signing the meeting minutes.

Article 41 of the Labor Law requires the Supreme Labor Council to determine the minimum wage annually considering the inflation percentage announced by the Central Bank, ensuring that the corresponding wage sustains a family’s living expenses.

In Wednesday’s statement, the amount requested by parliamentary representatives as the minimum wage for workers exceeds by approximately 1 million tomans the amount the Labor Council determined in last week’s session.

Parliamentary representatives in the aforementioned statement requested that the Supreme Labor Council reconsider its decision and, taking into account the more than 40 percent inflation announced by the Central Bank, “must ensure the satisfaction of hardworking workers.”

Parliamentary Representatives’ Complaint Against the Labor Minister

On Wednesday, 27 representatives of the Islamic Consultative Assembly filed a complaint against the Minister of Labor, Cooperatives and Social Welfare “for undermining workers’ rights in determining wages” through a letter. The text of this complaint letter has also been presented to the parliament’s presidium.

According to Hamshahri Online, in the complaint letter of 27 parliamentary representatives against Mohammad Shariatmadari, the Minister of Labor, Cooperatives and Social Welfare, it states: “Because Mr. Shariatmadari, the esteemed minister of cooperatives, labor and social welfare, did not observe workers’ interests in determining the minimum wage for workers in 1399 according to the two clauses below Article 41 of the Labor Law, executed the law incompletely, and caused concerns in the honorable workers’ society, we request the application of Article 234 of the Rules of Procedure of the Islamic Consultative Assembly.”

Ahmad Moradi, representative of Bandar Abbas residents in parliament and one of the signatories of the complaint letter against the Labor Minister, stated that the complaining representatives believe that if workers’ wages are not properly addressed, a large segment of society will face problems and more attention should be paid to their minimum wages.

Moradi said that the workers’ faction in parliament objects to this issue and will pursue workers’ rights through the faction’s channels. He then, considering the work limitations during the coronavirus pandemic, reminded: “When we ourselves say stay at home, but we do not know from the other side how the economy of those whom we tell to stay at home is being sustained.”

Source: DW