42 years minimum wage battle in Iran
Abbas Goya – February 2021 Introduction What determines the wage of a worker? For centuries this question has been the central conflict between labor and capital. Economists often attempt to answer it through formulas and calculations, but in reality wages are determined by something far simpler: power . Where workers are organized and capable of collective action, wages rise. Where they are weak or unorganized, wages fall toward subsistence. The concept of the minimum wage is the dominant bourgeois framework for determining wage levels. Unfortunately, even a significant number of socialist labor activists have accepted the minimum wage as the ultimate formula for wage determination. For this reason, it is important to pause and critically examine the concept itself. Minimum wage refers to the wage that allows the worker to cover the cost of subsistence—the minimum conditions necessary for survival. In economic terms, this corresponds to the value of labor power, or the cost of repr...