Rewritten Title: Government Nears Decision on Contract Worker Reforms, Aims for Administrative Justice
Article:
The Iranian government is finalizing a comprehensive plan to overhaul the employment status of hundreds of thousands of contract workers within its administrative bodies, a move poised to bring significant structural reform and enhance fairness in the public sector.
A Watershed Moment for Public Sector Employment
At the heart of this administrative transformation is the “Contract Workforce Organization Plan.” This initiative aims to resolve the long-standing professional uncertainty for an estimated 700,000 contract employees working across various ministries, state organizations, and public institutions. The final government decision is anticipated around October 6.
Experts believe the plan’s implementation will not only bring clarity to employment statuses but also foster administrative justice and reduce wage disparities, creating a more unified and motivated public sector workforce.
Official Stance: Prioritizing Structural Reform and Fairness
Alaeddin Rafiezadeh, Vice President and Head of the Administrative and Employment Organization, has emphasized the government’s commitment to finalizing these structural reforms. He stated that the primary goal is to manage public expenditures effectively while simultaneously resolving the professional limbo faced by contract workers.
“The government’s main approach is to organize the contract workforce and finalize their employment status,” Rafiezadeh confirmed, “so that no employee is working without a proper legal framework.” This commitment has been met with widespread approval from the affected employees, who have expressed their support on social media platforms.
The Current Landscape: Identifying the Challenge
The issue of contract workers, who are typically hired through third-party companies for state projects, has been a persistent challenge for Iran’s administrative system. These employees have historically faced job insecurity, significant pay gaps compared to their formal and contractual counterparts, and a lack of clear career advancement paths.
The government’s meticulous identification process has now officially confirmed the scale of the issue, pinpointing approximately 700,000 individuals in this category nationwide.
A Phased Approach to a Systemic Solution
According to the Administrative and Employment Organization, the government is pursuing a multi-stage strategy to implement this reform:
- Complete Identification: Finalizing the registry of all contract workers and reviewing their contract details and places of service.
- Categorization: Differentiating workers with continuous service records from those on temporary, project-based contracts.
- Evaluation: Assessing the performance of executive bodies and their contractors in upholding the rights of contract workers.
- New Remuneration Models: Designing new frameworks for wages and benefits to narrow the pay gap with formal employees.
- Legislative Action: Presenting the final proposal to the Cabinet and then to the Parliament for ultimate ratification.
The Core Objective: Administrative Justice
A key driver of this plan is the establishment of greater equity within the civil service. “The government seeks to steer the country’s administrative structure toward employment justice,” Rafiezadeh noted. “Eliminating intermediaries and organizing corporate contracts is a crucial step in this direction.”
He added that a significant portion of employee dissatisfaction stems from discriminatory pay practices and a lack of job security, issues the plan is designed to address directly.
The successful implementation of this reform is expected to not only benefit the hundreds of thousands of contract workers but also contribute to improved productivity, managed public costs, and greater stability within Iran’s national employment structure.