Iranian workers have to go to Iraq to find work

The director of the employment and vocational counseling bureau throughout Iran announced the monthly wages for Iranians abroad and said: “500 workers have so far been dispatched to Iraq.”

Babak Hashemi-pour in an interview with Mehr’s reporter announced: “Since last week 100 workers were sent to the northern cities of Iraq.” Hashemi-pour added: “These workers receive $300 a month for 9 hours of work per day. Based on contracts that have been signed between with the governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq the workers with technical skills are dispatched to Iraq in order to work on various building and construction projects there.” He stressed that the dispatched workers must be a maximum of 25 years of age and should have a technical high school diploma. The accommodation costs for these workers are free.

Hashemi-pour announced that the wages for workers dispatched to Australia is between $1500 to $2000 (Australian dollars) per month and for those sent to South Korea $500 monthly.

According to MEHR’s report, from now until the early 2007, one thousand Iranian workers are scheduled to be dispatched to Australia and so far more than 800 people have been sent to there. The discussions surrounding the issue of dispatching Iranian workers to Australia has been going on for three and a half years. This report also added that sending labor forces to South Korea stopped approximately a year and a half ago but will recommence by early 2007.