Islamic Republic of Iran

 
Overview

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a middle income country, with a GDP per capita of $1,650. Growth in Iran has been severely constrained in the last two decades, largely due to various rehabilitation and reconstruction needs of the economy after the Islamic Revolution, and the eight-year war with Iraq. As a consequence, growth was below two percent in the 80s and in the 90s has only picked up to four percent.

Unemployment has shown a tendency to fluctuate, and with a strong upward trend, reaching significant proportions. A current population of 63 million gives a labour force of 19 million. About 16 percent of this labour force are unemployed which is about 2.3 million people. Youth unemployment is the highest, 50 percent for the age cohort between 15-24 years. Educated unemployment is also very high, and university level unemployment again is the highest despite the high literacy rate of 93 percent for those aged 6-29. The official figure for child labour in 1992 was 286,000 of which 62 percent are girls. Most child labourers are working in the carpet industry.

Estimates and trends in poverty differ, but nevertheless point to significantly high levels. The Management Planning Organization (MPO) estimates absolute poverty to have dropped in the last decade, but to be still high at the level of 20 percent. A rural poverty line of R365,000 per month gives a rural poverty headcount of 21.7 percent, while an urban poverty line of R460,000 gives an urban poverty headcount of 18.7 percent. Inequality in the economy has remained at a high level. The high levels of unemployment and poverty, and low growth are considered to be potentially destabilizing, and therefore constitute priority problems for any management regime. The Third Development Plan now aims to bring down this very high unemployment rate of nearly 16 percent, to a range of 10.5 percent -12.5 percent by the end of the plan period. To lower unemployment down to 10.5 percent will require the generation of approximately 750,000 jobs per year, to match a near equivalent labour supply, compared to a current rate of generation of only 285,000 jobs per year, and a past best of 350,000 jobs.

In the social and political landscape, the Government has taken significant participatory measures, especially in recent years. Popular participation has increased significantly. During the 1997 election, the voter turnout reached an unprecedented 83.3 percent; during the February 2000 parliamentary elections, 75 percent of eligible voters actually voted. Furthermore, the Government has launched new initiatives in the area of governance, emphasizing the rule of law and advocating transparency and accountability for people-centered development. Civil society institutions, including NGOs are taking a proactive role and becoming more involved in the development process. However, the initiatives by which civil society institutions and NGOs can contribute effectively to national development objectives need further elaboration.

Workers and employers’ organizations are represented in the Supreme Council of Labour headed by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. This is a centralized tripartite organization responsible for preparing proposals on policies and legislation relating to labour issues and setting minimum wages. The Council has nine members, three from each group. The Government representatives are usually cabinet ministers. The first tripartite national labour conference was held in October 1999 demonstrating limited freedom since only pro-government organizations represented employers and workers’ interests. Two years ago, the Parliament passed a Bill with the support of Chamber of Commerce, that exempts workplaces with less than five workers from the application of the Labour Code. The move was strongly opposed by the Workers’ House on human rights grounds.

The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs is Mr. N. Salimi. The International Relations Bureau of the Ministry is headed by Mr. Askari as Director-General and at the same time in charge of liaison with the ILO. The Government is a deputy member of the ILO Governing Body.

The most representative organization of employers is the Iran Confederation of Employers’ Association, headed by Mr. Ahmad Khanloo. This organization is a purely private body organized in 1996 under the Labour Code. It is not a member of the IOE. ACT/EMP and SAAT fielded a mission two years ago to re-establish contact with the organization and build a technical cooperation programme. Another organization representing employers is the Chamber of Commerce of Iran headed by Mr. Alinaghi Khamoshi. Half of its Managing Board’s members are nominated by the State, while the rest are elected by the members.

Workers

Workers’ interests are represented by the Workers’ House headed by Mr. Sadeghi, the President. Its General Secretary is Mr. Ali Reza Mahjoub, who is also a member of the Labour and Social Affairs Commission of the Parliament. About 25 percent of the members are women. Any company/business firm having over 35 employees has its own Islamic Labour Council and workers’ representatives are appointed by the Coordinating Council to be in various agencies of the Government. From the ILO’s standpoint, the Workers’ House has yet to firmly establish its role as a free and independent workers’ organization that can be acknowledged by the international community of free and democratic unions. The ICFTU has been critical of the trade union and human rights situation in the country.

Iran falls directly under the responsibility of ROAP, with ILO/SAAT responsible for technical work. After the closure of the ILO Office in Tehran in 1979, technical assistance activities have been limited to a TSS1 project on employment issues and its participation in the ILO/Japan Long-term Fellowship Project on Labour and Employment Policy Administration and the Asia-Pacific Symposium on Standards-related Topics which is organized annually. As a response to Iran government’s request for the ILO to fully resume its technical cooperation, several missions were fielded by ROAP, SAAT, ACTRAV and ACT/EMP. The two most recent missions took place on 24-26 April 2000 headed by then Regional Director, Mrs. M.Horiuchi when a national tripartite seminar on globalization and industrial relations was held; and on 16-22 February 2001, a joint SAAT-HQ mission was fielded to explore an initiative on employment generation and poverty alleviation. The possible result of the last mission is a pipeline SPPD project called "A Strategy for Employment Generation and Poverty Alleviation for the Islamic Republic of Iran".

Iran has ratified 11 core conventions to date, including Convention Nos. 29,100,105 and 111. Since 1979, the Committee of Experts has raised concerns in its observations over the application of Conv. No. 111 on two grounds of discrimination – religion and sex. Due to this, two missions were fielded by EGALITE, one in 1997 and another in 1999 to discuss the outstanding points raised by the Committee. A workshop on this Convention was held in 1997.

Generally, there is a serious commitment in the government structure towards removing all possible obstacles to the application of internally recognized human rights. The Labour and Social Affairs Commission of the Parliament and the Confederation of Employers have expressed interest in ratifying Conventions 87, 98 and 138. The Government is examining the 1991 Labour Code (adopted with some ILO input) in relation to these Conventions.

Almost all UN organizations have returned and resumed operations in Iran. The Government has a standing request for the ILO to re-open its office in Tehran. Recent ILO missions have also acknowledged the importance of establishing stronger ILO links with the country. 

Updated by CHW. Approved by RD. Last update: 27 July 2001.