Iranian trade union official says workers now “fight to survive”

An Iranian trade union official says soaring food prices have pushed many workers beyond the brink, with staples such as chicken, eggs and legumes increasingly out of reach.

Majid Rahmati, a board member of Tehran’s Coordination Council of Islamic Labor Councils, said chicken prices had risen to around 470,000 tomans per kilogram, adding that even basic alternatives like beans and lentils had become unaffordable.

“Now that chicken has disappeared from workers’ tables, should we replace it with legumes?” he said. “The problem is that legumes have also become extremely expensive.”

Rahmati said a minimum household living basket previously estimated at 45 million tomans had now climbed to around 70 million, while married workers receive wages of roughly 24 million tomans a month.

“With egg trays now costing 500,000 tomans, workers today are fighting simply to survive and stay alive,” he said.