Session 2: Stakeholder Analysis in the Field of Workers’ Economy
In the recent session, Dr. Fatemeh Azizkhani examined the livelihood challenges of workers and emphasized the need to revise wage-setting and support policies. She stressed that while the global standard for determining wages includes six factors, in Iran only two are considered. As solutions to improve workers’ living conditions, she proposed establishing new support systems, allocating land for workers’ housing, and setting regional wage rates.
In this session, Dr. Fatemeh Azizkhani conducted a livelihood vulnerability analysis for workers. According to her, the global standard for determining wages includes six factors, but in Iran only two are considered. She also noted that currently wages are the same across all regions of the country, which is not efficient and fails to meet living costs. In her view, we have not yet adopted global standards.
Dr. Azizkhani’s Proposed Solutions:
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Short-term scenario: In the short term, keep the current minimum wage unchanged and support workers through other means. She proposed that the government should intervene in housing costs by allocating free land to employers to build organizational housing or by directly producing low-cost housing.
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Additional support: Another support method she suggested is issuing cards for low-income workers covered by support organizations. These cards would be granted to 21.7% of Social Security-covered employees, allowing workers free access to facilities such as pools, education, healthcare, and more.
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Regional wage setting: She also emphasized the need for regional wage determination, adding that a formula should be developed to set the minimum wage in each province. According to her, this formula can take each region’s economic conditions into account and provide a fairer wage for workers.
