Retirees and pensioners of the Social Security Organization in Iran held rallies in numerous cities on Sunday, February 27, protesting their low pensions and poor living conditions that are worsening with rising inflation. The cities of Tehran, Mashhad, Tabriz, Isfahan, Ahvaz, Shiraz, Kermanshah, Arak, Khorramabad, Qazvin, Haft Tappeh, Shahrekord, Ilam, Bojnourd, Ardabil, and others were scenes of different gatherings as such regular protests are becoming a new weekly norm, pressuring the mullahs’ regime to provide for the people’s basic demands.
The demonstrating retirees and Social Security pensioners are protesting their extremely low wages and pensions, issues regarding their insurance benefits, and poor living conditions. They’re demanding an increase in their pensions as prices of basic goods and housing are skyrocketing with no end in sight.
The rally in Tehran, the capital of Iran, was the scene of pensioners and retirees protesting their own dilemmas and raising political demands by chanting: “Political prisoners must be released!”
February 27 – Tehran, #Iran
Retired steel workers & pensioners protesting poor living conditions & demanding adequate pensions based on rising inflation."Political prisoners must be released!" they chant.#IranProtests #اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/iVgjLnKGsM
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) February 27, 2022
In Mashhad, the country’s second largest city located in northeast Iran, retirees and pensioners of the Social Security Organization rallying and protesting low pensions, insurance issues, and poor living conditions.
February 27 – Mashhad, northeast #Iran
Retirees and pensioners of the Social Security Organization rallying and protesting low pensions, insurance issues, and poor living conditions.#IranProtests #اعتراضات_سراسریpic.twitter.com/P5QPi3fHAa— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) February 27, 2022
Similar scenes were also reported from Isfahan in central Iran where retired steel workers and miners protesting poor living conditions.
“Neither the parliament, nor the government, none care about the people!” they chanted.
February 27 – Isfahan, central #Iran
Retired steel workers and miners protesting poor living conditions.
"Neither the parliament, nor the government, none care about the people!" they chant.#IranProtests #اعتراضات_سراسریpic.twitter.com/xCMAbwHcLZ— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) February 27, 2022
Protests by people from all walks of life are increasing exponentially 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, money that pensioners have paid as social and pensions insurance throughout their years of service.
As a matter of fact, in their ongoing power struggles, 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 this organization and took advantage of his power to bribe other corrupt officials.
Acknowledging this rough 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, more than 42 million people, are somehow dependent on this Insurance Fund, and as a result, the effort to maintain this fund is an effort to maintain the country’s social security,” it added.
“The crisis in Social Security is a ‘national crisis’ that endangers the 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 portion 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 deteriorated the living conditions of the pensioners in various dimensions,” according to a piece 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 an act 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 the government’s service. They have paid significant amount of their salaries on a monthly basis 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. This situation is the result of an oppressive and corrupt regime.
