Retirees, pensioners hold new wave of protests across Iran

By Mahmoud Hakamian

Cities across Iran were witness to steel industry retirees and pensioners of the Social Security Organization holding rallies on Sunday, March 6, protesting low wages and pensions, insurance issues, and poor living conditions. The cities of Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Qazvin, Arak, Kermanshah, and Shushtar were among those where such protests took shape as people from all walks of life throughout Iran are enduring difficult conditions due to rising inflation causing skyrocketing prices of basic goods and housing.

The retirees and Social Security Organization pensioners, continuing their gatherings from previous weeks, are calling for an increase in their pensions as an immediate measure to address their growing woes, while the entire economy continues to suffer from massive corruption due to the regime’s destructive policies.

The retirees and Social Security pensioners are protesting their extremely low wages and pensions, issues regarding their insurance benefits, and poor living conditions. They are demanding an increase in their pensions as prices of basic goods and housing are skyrocketing with no end in sight.

Protests by people from all walks of life are increasing dramatically across Iran. On February 24, workers, teachers, and investors held rallies voicing their demands and protesting their ongoing economic grievances.

On February 22, teachers throughout the country staged protest rallies in dozens of cities and went on strikes demanding better paychecks as inflation continues to rise parallel to skyrocketing prices of goods and housing.

In its 2021 budget proposal, the cabinet of former Iranian regime president Hassan Rouhani had included a quota to equalize pensions which is contrary to the main demands of pensioners and, if implemented, is entirely in the interests of the regime-affiliated pensioners who already receive high salaries.

On December 26, 2020, Tasnim News Agency, affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), ran an interview with Shaker Ebrahimi, the head of the regime’s Council of Labor in Kurdistan province. “Those who receive high salaries benefit from the pensions equalization and, unfortunately, the lower classes of society are forsaken as always,” he said.

While a low increase in pensions is insufficient to provide for the livelihood of retired government employees, it is not the only injustice that pensioners suffer from. Regime officials in the Social Security Fund have also stolen and looted this organization’s money, funds that pensioners have paid as social and pensions insurance throughout their years of service.

As a matter of fact, in their ongoing power struggle, the regime’s factions occasionally expose the corruption and embezzlements of rival officials in the Social Security Organization.

Saeed Mortazavi, a notorious judge who has issued many death sentences and is the main perpetrator of the torture of activists and protester in the notorious Kahrizak prison, was one of the officials who presided over this organization and took advantage of his position to bribe other corrupt officials.

Acknowledging this difficult situation, on December 27, 2020, the state-run Kar-va Kargar daily cited the Pension Funds crisis as “one of the chief crises and challenges in the country,” adding, “The Rural and Nomadic Social Insurance Fund is the one and only fund out of 20 Pension Funds in the country that is still working, and the rest of the country’s Pension Funds are in critical situation or on the verge of crisis.”

“The future of the Social Security Administration is the most concerning issue compared to those of other Funds. More than 65 percent of the country’s population, or 42 million people, are somehow dependent on this Insurance Fund, and as a result, the effort to maintain this fund amounts to maintaining the country’s social security,” it added.

“The crisis in Social Security is a ‘national crisis’ that endangers national security,” said Akbar Shokat, a labor member of the Social Security Organization’s board of trustees.

Another problem, apart from dominance of the regime-affiliated corrupt elements in the Pension Funds, is that the government has not been paying its share to the Funds for years and Rouhani’s government currently owes a considerable amount to it.

“The government does not take any responsibility towards the Social Security Organization, whereas the same organization pays 85 percent of the expenditures of the national fund, and this has worsened the living conditions of the pensioners in various ways,” according to a an article published on December 27, 2020, in the state-run Resalat daily.

It is crystal clear that the regime’s Pensions Equalization Plan is a deceptive measure aimed at curbing the pensioners’ protests and in fear of the workers and retirees’ outrage. The plan has not and will not remedy any of their difficulties and livelihood problems.

This is how the regime is looting pensioners who have worked for close to 30 years in government service. They have paid a significant amount of their salaries monthly so that a minimum subsistence and trouble-free life can be provided in their retirement years, but the regime has plundered their savings. Now, under the mullahs’ rule, they are living on the edge of poverty, getting through rough pandemic conditions, and if they become poor, like other segments of the Iranian society, they will face a bitter fate.

At the same time, recent weeks have seen a growing wave of activities by the Resistance Units, who have been broadcasting anti-regime slogans in public places and setting fire to posters and statues of regime leaders and icons.

All these facts point to the undeniable reality that the Iranian society is ready for regime change. And Khamenei, sitting on a powder keg, is running out of options to delay the overdue demise of his regime.

This article was first published by english.mojahedin

You can join us on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY8rfxSSmFhtaVrzFTaRD4g