Page 8 - MEOG Week 42 2021

MEOG POLICY & SECURITY MEOG

Mobilised Iranian workers have

administration on back foot

IRAN IRANIAN workers have the new Raisi govern- class workers employed in the public sector suf-
ment on the back foot with a wide range of social fered significantly as government spending ran
groups mobilising – organising locally, region- out of steam. Private sector wage workers, such
ally, and nationally – to express socioeconomic as those in the construction sector, have fared
grievances, according to an assessment by the comparatively better as their wages rise with
Bourse & Bazaar Foundation, a think tank. inflation.”
President Ebrahim Raisi’s administration was Faced with discontented workers and limited
in the third week of September confronted by fiscal space, the Raisi administration has, accord-
the latest nationwide demonstrations by teach- ing to Bourse & Bazaar, sought to blame its pre-
ers that are part of a bigger protest wave that has dicament on Rouhani’s recklessness, rather than
gripped Iran over the past year. the deteriorating economic situation.
True, Raisi only took office in August, but “Hardline politicians argue that Rouhani
such is the head of steam built up by the vari- deliberately loaded up on financial commit-
ous protest campaigns that the new president, a ments in his final days in office in order to put a
hardliner who has succeeded pragmatist mod- stick in the spokes of the Raisi government. Par-
erate Hassan Rouhani, is being forced to grapple liament member Ahmad Hossein Falahi recently
with the promises made by his predecessor. complained that ‘unfortunately in the final days
In the first few months of the year, pension- of the Rouhani administration a lot of things got
ers mobilised in Tehran and other major cities, done.
while in July, residents of the southern province This is because the managers of the previous
of Khuzestan came out on the streets to demon- government aimed to impose a number of poli-
strate against severe water shortages amid cies on the incoming administration, despite the
drought conditions. Between June and August, fact that the Plan and Budget Organization was
contract workers across Iran’s oil sector staged supposed to safeguard this year’s budget. Falahi
intermittent strikes and protests. And, Bourse & added that this has created a dangerous ‘mental-
Bazaar said, it seems the protests are unlikely to ity’ whereby social groups invoke Rouhani’s gen-
let up. erosity to bargain with the Raisi government.”
“But that Iran’s new leadership came to power While it is true that in his final months in
with little regard for the electorate has not dis- office, Rouhani made a number of concessions
suaded protestors from making demands of state to protesting workers that seemed extraordi-
authorities. According to one protest tracker, narily generous given the state’s emptied coffers,
September – Raisi’s first full month in office – “despite the accusations now being made, it
saw one of the highest number of protest events more likely that an exhausted Rouhani admin-
in the past year,” it added. istration, realising it would soon leave office,
The think tank also observed: “The more relaxed its commitment to austerity, submitting
the Rouhani administration intervened to sup- more easily to bottom-up pressure for increased
port the welfare of key constituencies, the more spending,” the think tank concluded, adding:
groups such as teachers and pensioners became “The Raisi administration is now faced with the
emboldened, increasing their demands as the difficult task of managing the fiscal obligations it
deteriorating economic situation eroded their has inherited.
incomes. Protest activity grew despite the grow- The choice facing Iran’s new president is
ing risk of state repression. whether to prioritise the demands of constituen-
“Still, Rouhani’s constituents suffered despite cies that have shown a capacity for sustained pro-
his targeted interventions. Public sector teach- test, or whether to redirect spending in favour of
ers saw their real wages fall by over 40 percent workers in the judiciary, police, and military who
between March 2018 and March 2021. Middle are among his core constituents.”™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 20•October•2021