CMNT_TITLE

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Iran (Islamic Republic of) (RATIFICATION: 1972)

Other comments on C095

Observation

Direct Request

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Article 12 of the Convention. Payment of wages at regular intervals – The wage arrears situation. The Committee has been commenting for the last ten years on widespread problems of accumulated wage arrears, especially in the Iranian textile industry, and has been drawing the Government’s attention to the need for sustained action to effectively put an end to such practices. The situation of unpaid wages has been examined on two occasions by the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards, in June 2005 and in June 2007, while the Office has undertaken two technical assistance missions on the same issue in April 2006 and in October 2007. In its previous comment, the Committee had noted that the description of the overall situation of wage arrears remained unclear as the Government had not provided precise information on the level of wage arrears by region and sector of economic activity or on the implementation of measures aimed at resolving the persistent problems of unpaid wages.

In its latest report, the Government once more outlines the reasons – structural, financial and political – that led industrial sectors such as textile and steel mill plants to decline, characterized by heavy financial losses, reduced exports, low competitiveness and liquidity problems. The Government also highlights policies and initiatives for the modernization of enterprises, the improvement of the business environment and the promotion of employment as a means of redressing the national economy and thus eventually resolving the problem of wage arrears. For instance, the Government refers to the establishment of the High Centre for the Modernization of Mine and Industry, which provided in 2012 US$1 billion in grants for the renovation of industries, or the Special Joint Committee composed of senior officers of several ministries, which receives requests for assistance from troubled enterprises and releases funds as appropriate. However, the Government’s report provides very limited information concerning the evolving wage arrears situation in terms, for instance, of the overall amount of accumulated wage arrears, the type of sectors and number of enterprises affected, or the average of the delay in the payment of wages. Among the limited statistical information provided by the Government, the Committee notes that in the period 2010–11, a total amount of 18.3 billion Iranian Rial (IRR) (approximately US$1.5 million) were paid to 4,182 workers in the form of financial support following claims filed with the dispute settlement boards. Regarding the monitoring of the wage debt, the Government indicates that in the period 2011–12, the labour inspection services carried out 404,504 inspection visits and found 6,620 establishments experiencing problems of delayed payment of wages. The Government also indicates that non-payment or delayed payment of wages represents 5.8 per cent of all workers’ complaints in workplaces.

The Committee is mindful of the adverse economic and political context in which the Government is seeking to address the structural deficiencies of the national economy and strengthen the productivity and sustainability of enterprises. While it is obvious that the problem of wage arrears is directly linked to the general situation of the national economy, the Committee considers that economic and financial difficulties cannot absolve the Government of its responsibility to ensure the timely and full payment of the wages due to workers for work already performed or services already rendered, in accordance with the requirements of Article 12 of the Convention. As the Committee has pointed out on numerous occasions, devising an effective response to such a complex problem presupposes a proper assessment of the problem in its true dimensions, which, in turn, is only possible through the systematic collection of up-to-date and reliable statistical information. Noting with concern that the situation of wage arrears continues to be not systematically monitored, the Committee strongly encourages the Government to take all appropriate measures to improve data collection so that the situation can be kept under close supervision and constant assessment. While fully conscious that the global economic downturn and the surrounding political tensions minimize the chances for short-term solutions to problems of that nature, the Committee hopes that the Government will intensify its efforts and exhaust all available means, including the use of sufficiently dissuasive sanctions, to progressively eliminate and prevent the recurrence of similar practices in the future.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2014.]