Page 25 - IRANRptJun22

Teachers again take to the streets in Iran
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%.
“Iran’s ongoing and widespread rights violations against workers and labour rights activists are of grave concern,” said Skylar Thompson, senior advocacy coordinator at HRA. “The sheer number of events documented by HRA over the past several years underlines the urgency for reform in light of a serious lack of sufficient and adequate protections for workers' rights.”
Teachers took to the streets of several cities in Iran on April 21, including the capital, Tehran, in the latest protests against poor wages, unacceptable working conditions and the continued incarceration of jailed colleagues, according to local reports.
Some reports indicated that the demonstrations went ahead under tight security. Iran in the past year has seen several sizable protests involving street demonstrations, with poor pensions, low wages for energy workers and water shortages among the issues that have drawn angry crowds.
Amateur video posted online, cited by RFE/RL, showed protesters in Shiraz, in southwestern Iran, chanting: “Imprisoned teachers must be released.”
The Iranian Teachers Trade Unions Coordination Council stated on Telegram that at least 30 protesters were detained in the protests.
Recent months have seen several street protest days called by Iranian teachers. One teacher arrested as a result of demonstrations was Rasoul Bodaghi, both a member of the teachers' union and a civic activist. On April 19, he received a five-year prison sentence. He was convicted of illegal assembly and propaganda. Bodaghi was also banned for two years from living in Tehran or leaving the country, his lawyer told Iranian media.
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 terms Iran is a peer of China (44%), Singapore (43%), Switzerland (35%) and
25 IRAN Country Report June 2022 www.intellinews.com