Page 23 - IRANRptJul22

Iran’s workers ‘face mounting challenges to realising labour rights’
Iranian workers are facing mounting economic and political challenges to realising their labour rights, Human Rights Watch and Human Rights Activists (HRA), an Iranian human rights documentation group, said ahead of International Workers’ Day on May 1.
Over the past four years, amid a deterioration of Iran’s economic conditions, labour protests have increased in the country, HRA found in its new Labor Rights Report. Iranian authorities have attempted to repress and silence activists in labour organisations and trade unions who have led protests called over low wages and falling living standards, it said. Work-related safety incidents and cases of unpaid wages demonstrated perilous working conditions and a further erosion of labour protections in recent years, HRA also said.
“Iranian labour activists have been at the forefront of the struggle for the rights to free association and assembly in Iran, and they have paid a heavy price from government repression,” said Tara Sepehri Far, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Iranian authorities should recognise the rights of labour unions and engage in meaningful efforts to address the country’s mounting economic problems.”
Since March, it said, the authorities have also increased harassment and summonses for interrogation of the active members of the Iranian Teachers Trade Association (ITTA). It has been spearheading nationwide protests for fair wages for three years.
HRA also documented that between May 2021 and May 2022, at least 10,707 workers were injured in work-related incidents. The statistics indicate that at least 1,200 people have died of work-related injuries annually over the past 12 years.
According to Iran’s legal medicine organisation data, between 2008 and 2018, 15,997 people lost their lives in work-related incidents. This office reported that 42% of workers who died fell from unsecured building ledges.
Also according to HRA’s compiled data, at least 45,462 workers were owed delayed wages, an increase from 34,318 in previous year. The public sector was responsible for 76% of these delayed wages, especially Iranian municipalities, while private sector employers owed 14% and Iran’s energy sector 7%.
4.4 Gross fixed capital formation
Capital expenditure is strong
One source of Iran’s above-peer performance is not hard to find: gross fixed capital formation (the sum total of investment in capital goods in an economy – broadly national capex) was above 30% as recently as ten years ago, and in spite of the pandemic is still well above 20%.
Ten years ago US GFCF was 18%, and while it has recovered it is still lower than Iran’s, as is GFCF in the EU, Saudi Arabia and Israel. GFCF is the most significant driver of GDP growth after population changes and urbanisation, and Iran’s GFCF has been largely unscathed by either sanctions or COVID.
A key support for GFCF is the national savings rate – the percentage of GDP saved in one way or another. Iran’s GNS rate is around 38% (source: CIA). Compare that with the EU (22%), the UK (13%) and the US (18%). In GNS
23 IRAN Country Report July 2022 www.intellinews.com