Statements at the Meeting with Thousands of 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, our prophet, and the beloved of our hearts, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure and chosen progeny, especially the Remaining One of God among the inhabitants of the earth.

Welcome, dear brothers and sisters. The annual gathering of the dear workers in the Hosseiniyeh is an important session for me. The issues related to work and labor are intertwined with the destiny of the country.

First, I would like to congratulate you on the blessed birth of Imam Ali al-Ridha (peace be upon him) and take this auspicious coincidence of this session with this noble birth as a good omen. I also remember our dear martyr, Martyr Raeisi, who paid special attention to the issues of the people, particularly the issues of workers.

The points that the Minister mentioned here were all correct; that is, the gaps that exist, the needs that are there, the tasks that must be done — which he enumerated one by one — are all true. The only point I want to emphasize is that he himself, the ministry, and some other sectors of the government should know that the audience of these words is themselves. I sincerely pray that the Almighty God assists them and grants them success to carry out these tasks. If they are determined and make a decision, they can.

Regarding labor issues, many necessary points have been made; of course, good work has also been done, but some points need to be emphasized; even if they are repetitive, they must be reiterated. I have noted a few points that I will present.

The first point is about valuing labor. The audience of this section — the valuation of the worker and the valuation of work — is primarily you workers, so that you recognize your worth and understand where what you are doing fits into the whole of creation, the community, and the spiritual desires and religious values.

One topic is the value of the worker; the worker is valued not just for his work, but for his humanity. The worker has two important characteristics, each of which is a virtue before the Almighty God: first, he strives to earn a lawful livelihood and sustenance through his own effort; he does not become a burden on others, does not engage in idleness, does not commit plunder, does not take from others; he earns his bread through his own strength — the strength of labor, various types of workers; each in their own way — this is a virtue, this is an important act; a person should live this way; this is a model for every human being, to rely on oneself, to rely on one’s own strength, to live in this manner. This is one characteristic.

The second characteristic, which is also an important virtue, is that the worker meets the needs of others. You produce industrial, agricultural, and service products for the people and provide them; that is, you are helping the lives of others. From a human perspective, these two points are very valuable, they are virtues. If we assume we want to evaluate, there is someone who is devoted to worship and similar pursuits but makes no effort for his own life and the survival of himself and his family, the worker who strives and works is superior to him. This is valuation. This pertains to the worker as a worker, as a human being.

As for the valuation of work; this is very important; this is very prominent. Work is a main pillar of human life management. If there is no work, human life becomes paralyzed. Capital certainly has an impact, knowledge certainly has an impact, but capital and knowledge without the driving force, without the worker, are of no use and yield no benefit. The worker gives spirit to the body of capital. We said this year’s slogan is "Investment for Production"; very well, the most important capital is the worker. They should invest, but they must pay attention that this financial investment, without the will of the worker, without the capabilities of the worker, without the desire of the worker, will not reach anywhere. The role of work is this: it is one of the main pillars of the stability and continuity of society. That is why you see that the enemies of every society, including the enemies of the Islamic Republic, have tried from the very beginning of the revolution until today to divert the working community from working in the Islamic Republic, to protest; from the very first day. I have memories in this regard that now is not the time to recount. Back then, it was the communists, the Marxists who sought to seize the working environments, take them under their control, and then suddenly completely shut down a section, causing paralysis. Every section they shut down was paralyzed; today the same motivation exists; back then the communists did this, today the agents of the CIA and Mossad are doing this. Of course, both then and now our workers have stood firm and have struck back with a strong fist.

Well, we have stated that the most important capital is the worker; that is, the impact of the worker is greater than that of money and scientific research and similar matters. "What should we do with this capital?"; this begins the responsibilities that exist towards the workers. Part of this responsibility may fall on me, part on the minister, part on the capital owner and entrepreneur, part on the general public, and part on the media. Ultimately, there are responsibilities towards the worker.

For the worker to be able to work properly, to be able to produce well and help others, and to stand on his own feet, he has needs; one of these needs is job security; one of these needs is physical safety; the accidents that sometimes occur for workers deeply disturb a person; these are blows; [one need is] safety. One of these needs is to alleviate livelihood concerns; that is, these tasks must be carried out. Now I will briefly mention some of these and move on.

The first issue is job security. The worker must know that he will remain in this job so that he can plan; he should not have the concern of how long he will be here; the continuation of his job should not depend on the will of another; job security means this. This security must be ensured. In a period a few years ago, for various reasons, many factories were shut down; this is against job security. Sometimes reports came that a certain factory was shut down; we would ask why? They would give excuses that there are no raw materials, the machines are worn out, and similar things; of course, these exist but they have remedies; they must be addressed. Factories should not be shut down.

Some cases, which I have previously mentioned, shutting down factories was a treacherous act; it was done because this land had gained high value, to sell the machines in a certain way, to buy back the workers, to use the land for more money! For money, for personal greed, they did this. Here, both the supervisory bodies and the judicial system must be vigilant; [this] is one of the essential and important tasks. The government agencies that have responsibilities, whether the Ministry of Labor or some other agencies, must prevent this. Therefore, according to the statistics provided to us, in the government of Martyr Raeisi, eight thousand factories were brought back to work; so it is possible. So it is possible to bring back a closed factory or a factory that is operating at one-third capacity, one-fourth capacity. One of the honors of that dear martyr was this; he had perhaps repeatedly shared this with me. Therefore, one [issue] is the issue of job security.

Alongside this job security, let me tell you this: see! The job security of the worker is accompanied by the job security of the entrepreneur; that is, he must also have job security. We should not act in a way that he feels that his investment and the preservation of his capital will be detrimental to him; that is, he must also have job security. The correct approach is to ensure that both the job security of the worker is preserved and that of the entrepreneur is also preserved.

The second issue that is necessary for the labor sector, which I have noted, is the issue of "skill enhancement". One of the things we must do is to strive to make our workers skilled. If the worker becomes skilled in his work, better, higher-quality, and more prominent products will be produced, which will naturally benefit the producer, the worker, and society; it benefits everyone. This is one of the important [issues]. Now we have the means for skill training. Now, the honorable minister also told me, I am aware; vocational and technical training centers are a very good opportunity. There are those among our youth, perhaps our teenagers, who prefer the path of vocational training over university education and work here. These are the best workers; the best people who can serve the country, serve themselves, raise their living standards, and also raise the living standards of the people. We have this capability. Of course, alongside vocational and technical training centers — which are important and I have emphasized this many times — large companies can also create systems for skill enhancement alongside their work; this can also be done. [This] is one of the tasks that must be carried out; large companies can do this. They should hold courses; hold temporary courses, provide the necessary skills to workers so that they can perform their work better and with more skill.

Another issue — as we have pointed out — is the issue of worker safety; the physical safety of the worker. Of course, we have heard distressing news about mines in these past two or three years, but it is not only there; I have received reports from other places as well; in other factories, the issue of safety is very important. Care must be taken, and from the perspective of social security, technical compliance must be ensured so that the safety of workers is guaranteed.

An important aspect of supporting workers is the issue of consuming domestic products, which I have been emphasizing for several years, (4) it was also mentioned in the sixth program (5). Of course, some have not acted correctly, but to the extent that it was implemented, it was beneficial. When we buy a product that is produced domestically, we are actually helping the domestic worker and the domestic investor. When this product exists domestically and we choose and buy its foreign counterpart, it means we are helping the worker of that country, the investor of that country, and we prefer him over our own worker. Is this fair? Is this humanity?

Of course, there are excuses; for example, the quality of domestic production is such and such; no, in some cases, the quality of domestic production is very good. We now have some goods and household items, the quality of our products is not less than that of foreign ones, if not better. We should cultivate this as a prevailing culture; Iranians should recognize their duty to consume Iranian goods, except where it is not produced domestically. [Using] what is produced domestically should be recognized as a duty by all; we should cultivate this.

I recently heard that one of the agencies announced that the prohibition on the entry of products with domestic counterparts has been lifted. Why should it be lifted? Promote what is produced domestically; if its quality is not good, strive to improve the quality of the work. A few years ago, I mentioned regarding cars — that it was said that the fuel consumption of domestic cars is high — (6) if in the midst of economic and scientific siege, where the owners of knowledge in the world close their doors to Iranian scholars and students, the Iranian scholar comes and accomplishes great things, if the Iranian youth can produce such missiles, such weapons, such products that astonish the enemy and make them say, "I stand up in respect for this work," (7) well, they can also produce a car that consumes less fuel, that is better produced. Let’s work on this, let’s focus on this. What is easier is to say, "Very well, let’s open the way for imports from abroad"; this is detrimental to the country, this is detrimental to the working community, this is detrimental to the entire country. Therefore, an important aspect of supporting the worker is that we consume domestic production and make this a culture.

One of the important tasks that I believe requires comprehensive and complete planning from the officials and is very beneficial for the worker — it is beneficial for both the worker and the employer — is that the worker should share in the profits from production. If the worker feels that the more profit this product generates, the more his profit will increase, he will be motivated to perform his work better; that is, this gives the worker motivation, he will perform the work better, more completely, and more neatly; it becomes a manifestation of the narration that I have repeated many times: "May God have mercy on a person who does a job and does it well"; (8) good work, well-done work. Today in the world, some factories that produce a product write the date of establishment of this factory on their product; they take pride in the fact that this factory was established a hundred years ago. That a production unit can — now we have exemplified industrial production, other types of production are similar; some services [are the same] — operate in such a way that it has had customers for a hundred years and takes pride in it, this is the best work. This is achieved by having workers participate in the profits of the factory. One of the important tasks is this.

Another prominent point — which he (9) referred to — is the issue of workers' housing. If large workshops cooperate with workers' housing cooperatives — if such a cooperative exists, where it exists — this is the greatest help to the worker. If there is no cooperative, they can create a cooperative, help establish a cooperative, or they can create organizational housing next to large factories to eliminate the housing concern, which is one of the most important concerns, so that they can be at ease in this regard. One of the most important helps that can be given to workers is this.

Another issue that I have noted to mention is the culture of the work environment. See, in the philosophy of Marxists and communists, the work environment is an environment of conflict, an environment of enmity; that is, the worker must be an enemy of the factory owner; this is the philosophy. The movement of society is one of opposition and conflict with one another. According to them, the law of conflict throughout history, in social issues, in politics, in economics is ongoing; for many years, they have kept people idle with this wrong thought; they have made themselves miserable and many people in the world miserable. Islam says exactly the opposite.

Islam considers the environment of life, the work environment, the environment of history, the environment of coalition, companionship, and collaboration. Those who are interested in pursuing and researching the Quran should follow the expression of "pairing" and the word "pair" in the Quran: "Glory be to Him who created all pairs from what the earth produces and from themselves and from what they do not know"; (10) that is, in everything in the universe, there is a matter of companionship, empathy, cooperation, and synergy. The same applies to the work environment; synergy must occur; both sides must sincerely help each other, not just with words.

One last point is that when we talk about the worker, we should not only consider the industrial worker; the construction worker, the farm worker, the market worker, the female workers who are working at home, who today, thanks to communication tools and similar means, many work from home and benefit and profit; in terms of social security, various aspects should also be considered for them.

I would like to say a word about the malicious policies that are currently being employed against nations in the world. There is an effort to make the issues related to Palestine forgotten; Muslim nations must not allow this; they must not allow this. With various rumors, with various words, by bringing up new, irrelevant, and meaningless issues, they try to divert minds from the Palestinian issue. Minds must not be diverted from the Palestinian issue. The crimes that the Zionist regime is committing in Gaza, in Palestine, are not something that can be overlooked; the whole world must stand against it; they must stand against the Zionist regime itself, and also against the supporters of the Zionist regime; (11) yes, your assessment is correct; the Americans are truly supporting them. Now in the political realm, words are spoken, things are said that may suggest otherwise, but the reality of the matter is not this.

The reality is that the oppressed people of Palestine, the oppressed people of Gaza today are not only facing the Zionist regime; they are facing America, they are facing England; they are the ones who are strengthening this criminal regime in this way, otherwise their duty was to stop it. You provided them with weapons, you provided them with resources; whenever they are in need, they use you and receive help from you. Now that you see they are committing crimes; so many killings, so much slaughter, so many atrocities! They must stand against them. The duty of America is to stop this crime; not only do they not do this, but they also help. Therefore, the world must stand against both the Zionist regime and its supporters — including America — in the truest sense of the word. Some slogans and some words and some transient events should not prevent the Palestinian issue from being forgotten.

Of course, my belief is that by divine grace, by the might and glory of God, Palestine will triumph over the Zionist occupiers; this will happen. Falsehood has a fleeting existence, it may appear for a few days but it will certainly go away; there is no doubt about it. The appearances that are observed, now they are making some moves and advancements in Syria and other places, this is not a sign of strength but a sign of weakness and will lead to greater weakness, God willing. We hope that the people of Iran and the faithful nations will witness this day — the day of Palestine's victory over the aggressors and the usurpers of Palestine — God willing.

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