Approximately 200,000 tuman, means 200 dollars. The poverty line is at 500,000 a month. Mehrangiz, the wife of a worker from Ahwaz tells RFE/RL’s Radio Farda: “My husband earns 220,000 tuman ($220) at best while our monthly rent is 150,000.” What do they do then? They go all to work, whoever can. And Mehrangiz’s husband has to work in two places.
That is why a group of still tolerated trade unions, led by the Free Union of Iranian Workers, has recently sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Council of Labor starting with this sentence: “For years, we are struggling with poverty and are ashamed facing our wives and children.” They have asked the government to raise the minimum wage of the workers.
The same way, a group of Iranian teachers appealed a few days ago to the speaker of the parliament, Ali Larijani, to help raise their salaries. They have threatened with a strike.
Just a few months before the presidential election in Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cannot afford having unrest of the labor force. But can he afford raising the salaries and wages? 40% or more of the annual state budget is spent for subsidies of gasoline, bread, health care, and other services and basic consumer goods. So far they did manage it somehow, although the budget deficit increased and the inflation reached the officially declared level of 22%. More than 85% of Iranian government’s income is from oil export. Until last October and due to the drastic jump of the oil price to $150 a barrel, Iran could cover the subsidies and survive the deficit. Now with the oil price around $50 a barrel, even high-ranking officials are wondering how to drag the country at least until after the election in June.
(Roozbeh Bolhari from Radio Farda contributed to this report)
