“We will not give up until we get our rights”
On June 7, Social Security retirees took to the streets for the second day in a row to protest the June 5th decision of the Council of Ministers to limit the increase of their salaries to 10% despite the fact that the government has approved a %57 pay increase for this year for all salary earners. Today, rallies were held in the cities of Haft Tappeh, Doroud, Sirjan, Yazd and Ilam. And yesterday in the cities of Tehran, Kermanshah, Qazvin, Isfahan, Arak, Karaj, Shushtar, Ahvaz, Mashhad, Kerman, Rasht, Shiraz, Dezful, Tabriz, Zanjan, Mahshahr port, Bojnourd, Khorramabad, Bandar Abbas, Ardabil, Urmia and Jolfa, the gatherings took place.
In the cities of Tabriz, Shush, and Ahvaz, the streets became the scene of large marches of retirees, and their protest slogans echoed strongly in the streets.
On this day (June 7) the retirees of Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Company and Pars Paper Social Security also gathered in front of the Social Security office. In Ahvaz, on this day, retirees marched in a large line and gathered in front of the governor’s office. In Karaj, retirees chanted: “The retirees’ ship, has stuck”, “If our problem will not be solved / It will be the same every day”, “We will not give up until we get our demands”.
In Qazvin on this day, a large crowd of retirees gathered and applauded and chanted “death to Raisi” (the president) and chanted with humor and protest: “The revolutionary government is lying properly!” In Yazd, retirees chanted the slogan of “incompetent minister, resign, resign!”, and in Bandar Abbas city, the main slogan was “neither the government, nor the parliament, care about the people”. In Khorramabad too, retirees raised their voices ainst poverty and low paymentsd and expressed their anger against the regime.
In Mashhad, retirees cahnted “inflation hundred percent, our pay rise 10 percent!” . In Ilam, retirees spread an empty tablecloth in protest of poverty and high prices, and shouted their protest “incompetent minister resign!”. In Dorud, retirees rallied in front of Social Security office, shouting the same slogan. In Khorramabad, a retiree called on his colleagues in all cities to join the protests and then all sang the protest song “we won’t accept living under oppression, we give our life for freedom”.
As we reported yesterday, the issue is that according to the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers, the pension will be increased by only ten percent and the decision of the Supreme Labor Council to increase wages by 57 percent, which is again a wage several times below the poverty line for workers. Will not include a large number of retirees. According to a cabinet decision, only retirees who have worked for at least 30 years will be subject to a 57 percent pay rise, which is a small fraction. In addition, according to this decree, retirees who are at least paid and have worked for more than ten years, will have a salary increase of ten percent plus 650,000 tomans. And finally, the floor received by retirees, in whose opinion no one should receive less than it, is 5 million tomans, which is several times below the poverty line. One of the demands of the retirees is to increase their salaries to the real rate of the subsistence basket, and a few months ago the workers announced the poverty line at 16 million, and now the situation has worsened with the tsunami.
Social security retirees have other demands in addition to the demand for higher salaries. Free treatment and free education and the right to housing for all, an end to the security struggles and the release of Ismail Gerami, an end to embezzlement and theft, and the payment of government debts to the pension fund are among the other announced demands of retirees.
Retirees in their protest rallies over the past two days chanted “Death to the boss, incompetent minister, resign, resign, lie, America is here, our enemy is here, neither the government, nor the parliament, they are not thinking.” . Retirees with the slogan “Only the floor of the street is our right, so that we do not get our right”, this is the case every day, they emphasize the continuation of their struggles. Retirees are protesting against meager wages, the tsunami of inflation, discrimination and inequality, embezzlement and theft, and poverty and hunger.
An exciting move yesterday was for some sections of the population to join the ranks of retirees in Tabriz, which led to large marches and demonstrations. The demonstrators repulsed the repressive forces and continued their movement. The movement of the people of Tabriz is an instructive example for all future protests. Retirees’ protests and demands must be widely supported.
Free Them Now (FTN)
June 7,2022