Thousands of Iranian teachers stage strike in protest over pay

TEHRAN, Iran — Thousands of Iranian school teachers have protested and staged a one-day strike over the slow implementation of salary and pension reforms, local media reported Tuesday.

The teachers’ stoppage on Monday was the latest in a string of protests by public sector employees in recent weeks over the impact of soaring inflation on incomes.

Reformist newspaper Arman Melli said the teachers demonstrated outside parliament in Tehran and education ministry offices in provincial cities including Isfahan and Shiraz. The paper said it was the third day of protests by teachers in recent weeks.

Iran’s ILNA news agency reported that striking teachers in Alborz province, west of the capital, carried placards demanding “Free the imprisoned teachers.”

It was an apparent reference to colleagues detained at previous rallies.

Protesters called for the alignment of teachers’ salaries with those of other public sector employees among other demands, ILNA said.

Teachers rallied in dozens of cities across many of Iran’s provinces on Jan 31, incl. Tehran, Isfahan, Yazd, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Zanjan, Khuzestan, Fars, Lorestan, East and West Azerbaijan, Mazandaran, Alborz, Ilam, Markazi, Razavi Khorasan, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, and others. pic.twitter.com/NLd9zz5Qui

— AVA TODAY (@ava_today) February 1, 2022

“Unfortunately, our salary with a master’s degree and sometimes a doctorate is about 4.5 million tomans [$160 dollars]” per month, it quoted a protesting teacher in the city of Yazd as saying.

Iran’s public finances have been badly hit by sanctions re-imposed by then-US president Donald Trump in 2018, which reduced key oil exports to a trickle.

Inflation has soared to more than 40 percent, sapping the purchasing power of those on fixed incomes.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that US sanctions were not the only factor. He also blamed economic mismanagement by the government.