According to the vice-president of the Association of Construction Workers’ Unions Hadi Sadati, only 30 percent of construction workers in Iran are currently employed. The coronavirus has caused many Iranian construction workers to suffer from work and livelihood problems.
Hadi Sadati says that unfortunately, the coronavirus has caused that only 30 percent of construction workers go to work in the current situation and the rest of the construction workers are now unemployed and unable to make the minimum living.
Because they hoped to paint the building or repair the pipes and fixtures of the houses, they were offered less work due to the coronavirus and reduced demand. Due to this, their employment and livelihood are endangered.
“Currently, construction workers who are waiting for insurance have been identified. And if Social Security is going to carry out [Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei‘s order, in addition to the required facilities and tools, it has the information of the insured persons,” he said.
“For those who are not insured, their statistics and information can be collected by construction workers’ associations across the country. And whenever social security wants, we provide it to the organization through the center.”
According to Sadati, construction workers’ unions are active in 450 cities and counties. This can assist in transmitting statistics and information about insured and uninsured construction workers to Social Security.
Construction Workers Are Worried
These days construction workers can pay their premiums with great difficulty. Government officials are now pursuing unilateral reforms instead of facilitating the situation for them. They are just looking to increase the income of the Social Security Administration.
The draft amendment to “Article 5 of the Construction Workers’ Insurance Law”, which was apparently signed by 30 members of Parliament (Majlis) but was actually drafted with the concurrence and participation of the Social Security Organization and is on the parliament’s agenda, has exacerbated the concerns of construction workers and their unions.
Will the “construction workers’ insurance” and the social protection of these workers be more endangered and difficult in these critical conditions of the coronavirus outbreak?
The deputy chairman of the Iranian Majlis Economic Commission acknowledged the extreme poverty of the people. Describing people’s living conditions as critical, and sharply criticizing the government’s plans he said, “many people have nothing to eat but bread and cheese.”
The Government Is Just Watching the Death and Poverty of the People
In all countries of the world, at the same time with the start of the coronavirus outbreak, the government has started providing aid packages to the people, especially the unemployed. In many countries, governments have spent billions of dollars doing this.
But in Iran, the people are starving, and the government has not provided the least help to the people. All the plans that have been announced with propaganda so far have remained just hollow words. The result of this situation is the unemployment of workers and the suicide of young people and adolescents.
Iranian Workers Are Victims of Capital Focus in the Hands of Khamenei and the IRGC