Statements in Meeting with Workers

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his pure family, especially the Remaining One of God on earth.

Welcome. I am very pleased that, thanks be to God, it seems that after two or three years, we have the opportunity to meet with you, the representatives of the working community, in person and to speak with you.

The purpose of our annual meeting with workers is to express gratitude to the workers, to thank the workers, and to recognize the value of work itself, which may be even more important than the first. In our country, the value of work is not as clear to the general public as it should be. Work in Islam is a value; I will explain that in Islam, the view of the worker is the same and differs from everywhere else. According to the statistics provided to me, the number of people seeking work in our society is less than in many countries around the world; why? The one who seeks work and finds none has an excuse, but regarding the one who is not seeking work at all, Islam fights against this inclination. Islam insists that a person must strive, work, and make an effort; this effort and work not only provide for the livelihood of society — for if there is no work, society's livelihood will not be secured — but also serve as an asset for the worker himself; because it gives him a sense of identity. A person who is not seeking work and does not work does not feel a sense of identity; he feels a sense of non-identity. Therefore, we want to both thank our dear workers and, following the noble Prophet of Islam, kiss your hands, and we also want the value of work in society to be recognized, that work is a value in Islam. This must be repeated, it must be said, and a culture must be created in the country so that we can say that the number of those who are employed and those who are seeking work is, for example, high, has a high ratio, and we can see this in the future; this should be part of the programs of the relevant authorities related to work, including the Ministry of Labor. Now, the statements made by the Minister were very good; he provided a good report, and the decisions you made, God willing, should be pursued until these decisions are realized. Especially now, I have also made notes, and I will mention the issue of skill enhancement, which is very, very important; creating skill enhancement centers for workers is one of the vital issues regarding work and workers in the country.

Well, the Islamic view of the worker is one of appreciation; it differs from the capitalist system and also from the disintegrated communist systems. The capitalist system's view of the worker is exploitative and extractive; the worker is a tool for them to reach wealth; this is the perspective of the capitalist system; they do not hide it; if you look in your economic books, you will reach this conclusion. From the perspective of the capitalist system, the worker is a tool and a means; this tool must be acquired and used so that the owner of capital can reach wealth; this is the view. Even if at some point they grant a privilege to the worker, it is so that this worker continues to contribute to capital accumulation and does not become disillusioned or angry, and so on; this is the perspective of the capitalist system.

The perspective of the communist systems was a slogan-based one; it was called a workers' system; for example, consider — I do not know if you are familiar with history books or not — Russia during the time of Stalin or Khrushchev — these were the ones we witnessed closely during our youth and studies and activities — they called it a workers' system, but the leaders lived like ancient kings; there was no sign of support for the worker; the pressure was on the entire society, the pressure was on the working class; if you look in their own books, you can see this. In the very books they wrote, whether autobiographies, artistic books, novels, and so on, this meaning is completely reflected; defending the worker and viewing the worker was a slogan-based view; they claimed that the system was a workers' system.

In Islam, it is neither this nor that; it is an appreciative view, a value-based view; it values work and the worker. This story of the Prophet kissing the hand, which he mentioned, refers to this; that is, when the noble Prophet sees that this hand is a worker's hand, he bends down and kisses it.

There is a narration that a young man passed in front of the Prophet; he was a handsome young man, and the Prophet liked him; apparently, he called him and asked him two questions: one was, "Have you married?" He said no; they asked, "What is your job?" He said, "I am unemployed"; the Prophet said, "He has fallen from my eyes." This is the issue of work; "He has fallen from my eyes"; regarding this young man, whom the Prophet liked due to his behavior and movements, the Prophet said he fell from my eyes because he is not seeking work. Islam views work in this way; it sees work as a human value and values it. Well, this is now regarding our fundamental view of work and workers and this meeting with you dear ones.

However, regarding workers, we have spoken a lot. I have repeatedly spoken about workers and their privileges over the years; however, it is good to reiterate one or two points about workers, and this is important. Our workers, meaning the workers of the revolution — before the revolution, it was different — have shown that their national motivations in all areas are brilliant and prominent motivations. "In all areas" means what? It means both in the military field, in the economic field, and in the political field.

In the military field, the evident scene is the Sacred Defense era. We have fourteen thousand martyr workers; fourteen thousand! Now, I do not know how many of those who went were martyred; certainly, ten times that number of workers went. However, the departure of a worker is different from that of a young Basij member; this worker often has a wife, children — perhaps more than one child — and parents; that he can detach himself and go towards the Sacred Defense and put his life in his hands is very different from a young person who has no attachments of wife and child going to the battlefield. This is how it is in the military field. Today, if a military issue arises, certainly the working community will be among the front lines.

However, regarding the economic field. Of course, from the beginning of the revolution, this was the policy of global arrogance, and in the last ten to fifteen years, it has become very clear; their policy was to incapacitate the country's production; this was the enemy's policy. These sanctions and these statements were all aimed at causing production to cease in the country; when production ceases, the country becomes impoverished and dependent, its eyes turned to the hands of this and that. The important and ultimate goal of economic pressure was to incapacitate production; our workers stood at the forefront and did not allow this to happen. If you see that production in the country in some cases in certain years has even increased, it means that our workers stood at the forefront in the economic field. Of course, I also consider the rights of entrepreneurs; it is not that we do not recognize them — I will mention this later — but the one who was the main pillar of this tent was the worker. This is another point; the economic field.

But in the political field. From the very first days of the revolution, labor movements began. I was closely involved; a factory had become a center for their gatherings in the days leading up to the victory of the revolution — that is, the days of the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st of Bahman — they coincidentally came looking for me; I was busy with many tasks those days, but I went; I went and stayed in that factory for several days; that is, I would come at night and go back in the morning. I saw closely what they were doing; speeches, incitements. They organized a rally on the third or fourth day of the revolution — the 25th or 26th — towards the Imam's house! Labor movements began from that day and continue to this day; labor movements still exist today. Their intention has been to make the working class and the working community a symbol and sign of popular protests; however, the working community has rubbed their noses in the dirt and stood against them and did not allow this to happen and stood alongside the revolution and the system.

Of course, there have been instances where workers have protested, and their protests have been just; I follow the issues, and I know that in some cases, the protests of workers who gathered have been just protests. For example, if the government assigns a factory to someone, and instead of managing the factory, he sells its tools, dismisses the workers, and wants to build a hotel on the land; well, here the workers come out and protest. In these protests, the workers have always defined their boundaries with the enemy; that is, they did not allow the enemy to exploit their just protests; these are important; these are very important. How can one express gratitude to this aware, insightful, and committed group?

Well, these are part of the merits of our working community that we have repeatedly mentioned; it was necessary to reiterate, so that both you dear workers know and the general public knows what is happening in our society. The working community has problems — I will refer to them, so that, God willing, with the policies of this new government, these problems will gradually be resolved by the grace and power of God — but they have problems; despite these problems, they stood alongside Islam, alongside the revolution, alongside the system; both in the military field, in the economic field, and in the political field.

Well, in the issue of labor, there are three essential points that planning must focus on: one point is the issue of creating job opportunities in the country. We currently need to increase job opportunities; the possibility exists in the country, meaning all experts and those familiar with the country's issues confirm that there is a possibility to increase job opportunities so that the unemployment rate is much lower than it is today. This is an important part: creating job opportunities or entering and creating job opportunities altogether.

The second is to regulate the relationship between labor and capital; there must be a reasonable and correct relationship that I will say a few sentences about each.

The third issue is job security, which I have emphasized several times in this session in the Hosseiniyeh on the occasion of meeting with workers; today I want to mention a few points in this regard.

Regarding job opportunities, officials can strive to increase job opportunities; some investment is necessary, some entry of the private sector is necessary, and mainly effective government management is required; that is, the government must enter the field as an efficient manager and consider all aspects.

This requires that they obtain complete statistical oversight; that is, they must know where the capacities are and what characteristics exist for employment in these capacities and what and how much is needed; on the other hand, they must identify job seekers and connect them and revive job opportunities.

One of the things that can revive these job opportunities is the development of knowledge-based companies, which we mentioned this year. The characteristic of knowledge-based companies is that they eliminate the unemployment of graduates. Today, when we look at the unemployment statistics, the unemployment rate of university graduates is higher than that of all other groups. Well, this young person has worked hard, studied, and the government has invested money and spent to reach this point, and now he comes out unemployed! Sometimes in the reports that come to me, I see that, for example, they went to an occasion, a family visited — on the occasion of a newborn or various occasions — the father is a graduate with a master's degree in a certain field; what does he do? He drives a taxi; this is unemployment. He studied in a certain field; he should be able to utilize that. Knowledge-based companies answer this gap, although some criticize that "you say knowledge-based companies, when they become knowledge-based, their reliance on human resources decreases"; no, a form can be created, a relationship can be established that increases employment. Therefore, I repeat again, I have said it before, and I will say it again that knowledge-based companies must be developed; of course, knowledge-based in the true sense of the word.

Regarding the regulation of the income relationship between the worker and the employer, or the worker and the entrepreneur, or between labor and capital — however you express it — first, it must be understood that the worker and the entrepreneur are two wings of flight; that is, if there is a worker and no entrepreneur, work does not progress; if there is an entrepreneur and no worker, work does not progress; both are essential needs, attention must be paid to them. One side is labor and the skill of the worker, and the other side is capital, management, knowledge, technology, and so on; each of these creates value; that is, an added value is created with this combination in this primary material; it must be seen how much each one's share is; a fair share must be determined. This requires working, thinking, and planning.

In the resistant economy policies, we dedicated a section to this; one clause, one essential material relates to this. Well, the worker must be able to enjoy a dignified life. Today, our workers have multiple economic problems; of course, a significant part of these problems stems from the overall problems of the country's economy; that is, we have economic problems that have accumulated over the years, for example, have piled up, have not been resolved; there are problems for everyone, and there are problems for workers as well; part of it relates to this, and part also relates to labor laws and policies and planning that must, God willing, be pursued.

Thinking and planning are necessary, effort and striving are necessary, patience and perseverance, and not resorting to ill-considered actions are also necessary; all of these must be done so that this fair distribution and fair share that I mentioned can be achieved and this work can be done.

Well, now the honorable minister said that the basis of their planning is justice; this is good, very good; let this be the basis; issues should be viewed with a just perspective, and each section should truly receive its fair share. Both officials must become active in these areas, and activists in the fields of propaganda for cultural development and so on must also become active, and the workers themselves as well.

This is also regarding this issue.

Regarding job security. Well, when the issue of job security arises, the most commonly raised issue as job insecurity is these temporary contracts and similar matters; contracts that are made between the worker and the employer and are the cause of the lack of sustainable job security; this is said and it is correct. One of the issues that must be corrected and a fair law must be established here is this. A fair law means that both the worker should feel secure, and the employer and entrepreneur should be able to maintain discipline in the workplace; that is, it should not be such that behavior is such that complete indiscipline prevails; no, both sides should be able to benefit. However, I want to emphasize that job insecurity is not only due to this issue of temporary contracts; there are other factors that I do not want to enumerate now; I want to focus on one specific factor, and that is that when national production is hit, the work and employment of the worker will also be hit; this is certain. National production; that is why we emphasize so much on national production, domestic production, and domestic products.

For example, regarding imports and excessive imports; see, we currently have tens of billions in imports; many of these imports are necessary, meaning either raw materials or tools, factory equipment, spare parts, and so on; there is no objection to these; no one opposes excessive imports; we oppose excessive imports, and also smuggling; now smuggling is another independent issue. What does excessive imports mean? It means that when a product is produced domestically, its quality is good, we import a similar product; this is a dagger to the heart of the country's production; this is our argument. The reason I insist on preventing excessive imports is this.

See; according to the statistics provided to me, it is said that every one billion dollars of excessive imports is equivalent to the closure of one hundred thousand job opportunities; this is the statistic provided to us by experts and specialists. That is, if we import a product that is produced domestically, well, there are shoes, clothing, household appliances, and other things — now here, the car manufacturers should not take advantage of our words; their situation is not very commendable — in places where they are truly producing, producing well, when we, instead of strengthening domestic production, promote it, go and import a similar product from abroad, we must know that one billion dollars of this kind of import means the closure of one hundred thousand job opportunities of this kind.

When you go shopping and prefer foreign products over domestic ones, it means you are harming a domestic worker in favor of a foreign worker. That is why I insist and emphasize that we must certainly prevent excessive imports; this is the responsibility of the authorities, and what is also related to the people is that they should go after domestic products, domestic products; that is, they should be committed.

And here I should say that the important share of the domestic market belongs to the government; that is, the government is the largest domestic buyer; the largest buyer, the largest customer of goods is the government; the government must strive to consume no foreign goods; this alone is a very important step to strengthen domestic production. I have repeatedly emphasized the purchase of domestic products; every time we have emphasized this issue, some people line up to refute it with various arguments! Now, whether from abroad through the horns of foreign colonialism or, unfortunately, some people inside; as soon as we say "buy domestic," they immediately start to undermine and criticize it. This is also regarding this issue.

Well, an important issue regarding the duties of workers. See, our workers also have heavy responsibilities in these areas. One of the important duties of workers is "workmanship." I have repeatedly mentioned this hadith — apparently from the noble Prophet (peace be upon him) or one of the Imams (peace be upon them) — who said: "May God have mercy on the one who does a job and does it well"; may God have mercy on the one who performs a task and performs it well, firmly. One of the tasks of the worker is this: workmanship. One is to ensure the "beauty of work"; they should produce work beautifully; this is very important. An important issue in our country is the issue of "packaging," which I have repeatedly emphasized. Once during my presidency, a country — I will not mention the name — sent us a gift; what was it? Dates; they sent us dates as a gift. I took that date packaging and brought it to the cabinet, placed it there, and said, "Look, this is a complete example of 'taking sand to the desert'! We have the best dates in the world and the most dates in the world, and now they have sent us dates; but look at the packaging. We pack our dates in unsuitable boxes and package them, but they have taken the dates with the branch to which the dates are attached, placed them in plastic, and sent them to us with very beautiful packaging; I said, 'Learn from this.' These are the duties of the worker; of course, these are shared duties between the worker and the managers; these are their responsibilities that must be fulfilled. This is also this issue.

The last point I want to mention is regarding our educational system. Our educational system, despite all the emphasis that has been placed, is still more of a theoretical system than a practical and applicable one; it is often like this. Now, of course, there are training workshops in some areas, but they are not everywhere and not always. Of course, the mental training of students is necessary; they must learn knowledge, but this is not enough; alongside mental work, they must receive practical training. This cooperation between universities and industry — which we told one of the presidents years ago, and finally, this scientific and technological vice-presidency was established; its main task is to connect universities with industry; that is, students should connect with industry from their student days — is good for the industry because new knowledge overflows, innovations overflow, and it is also good for the university because funding comes to the university, it has money and income; this work must be done. In addition to this, the skill training and enhancement mentioned are very good, necessary work, and must be pursued; the skills of workers must be enhanced; the worker must be able to perform his work skillfully along with creativity and good taste and improve quality. When quality improves, naturally, the value of work in the eyes of customers and those who are interested and in need will also increase.

We sincerely thank the working community and appreciate their efforts, and we ask God Almighty for their success, and we hope that their steadfastness against various provocations of the enemies — as it has been — will continue, God willing; and both in the economic field, in the political field, and in the educational fields, God willing, the working organizations will advance day by day; and the managers and country officials, God willing, as promised, will all act according to the work and program that has been set, and everyone will help the government. Today, the work that the government has ahead in the field of economy is important work and needs everyone's help; that is, all institutions, different powers, and all people must help the government so that it can achieve these results.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.