The workers’ representative in the Supreme Labor Council: The cost of the workers’ living basket has reached 45 million tomans.
Mohammadreza Tajik, the workers’ representative in the Supreme Labor Council, announced in a television interview that the cost of the workers’ living basket this year has reached about 40 to 45 million tomans, while the minimum wage received by a worker’s household has been about 15 to 15.5 million tomans.
According to him, last year the cost of workers’ living was set at 23 million and 500 thousand tomans with the agreement of social partners in the wage committee, but this year, with the sharp increase in costs, the gap between income and expenses has significantly widened. Tajik said that even if we consider the minimum amount of the living basket to be 40 million tomans, the cost of living has increased by about 16 million and 500 thousand tomans compared to last year, and this gap is considered a disaster for worker households.
He pointed out the high inflation in recent years and emphasized that the reduction in workers’ purchasing power has intensified in 2025 and called on the wage committee to prioritize maintaining workers’ purchasing power in line with the inflation rate.
Tajik also criticized the lack of employers’ cooperation for wage adjustment in 2025 and said that the request for a wage review was raised before September but faced opposition from employers. He emphasized that wage increases have a limited impact on the final cost of production and, according to him, this increase might only affect the final production price by one to two percent.
The workers’ representative stated that now is the best time to increase wages and said that the representative of the Ministry of Economy in the Supreme Labor Council has announced that wage increases are not necessarily inflationary. He also pointed to the statistics of insurance registrants’ growth in the year when a 57% wage increase was implemented and considered it an indication of no serious negative impact on employment.
Tajik emphasized the need to pay attention to the social aspect of wages and said that some of last month’s unrest could have roots in economic pressures, and the government should play the role of mediator in the Supreme Labor Council, not side with employers.
He suggested that instead of setting a percentage increase in wages, a specific amount should be added to the base salary and added that if a worker’s earnings are 13 million tomans, at least 17 million tomans should be added to it. According to Tajik, the minimum wage for 2026 should reach 31 million tomans.
