In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

All praise is due to God, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master, Muhammad, and upon his Pure Progeny, particularly the remaining vestige of God on earth.

You are all very, very welcome here. I hope, God willing, our community of workers, whom you are representatives of and are the flowers of this community, will always be the recipients of God’s grace and that you’ll bring more happiness to our country with each passing day. If the community of workers moves forward; if their problems are solved; if their practical, intellectual, and work status improve; this will definitely make the country and the nation happy.

The honorable Minister’s statements were important. The part that was related to what he will do later, God willing, with effort and pursuance, this will definitely bear fruit. There were some important points made in the part where he spoke about the tasks that have been accomplished. I listened carefully. What I would like to ask Mortazavi to do – because he has good work experience and has worked well in the places where he was previously employed – is that I would like him to pay attention to these statistics, especially in some important areas such as the creation of jobs.

Some things were done in different administrations. They used to give some statistics, but when you would look carefully, you would see some negligence was present in them. Try to avoid doing this, such as in the areas of insurance, employment, and housing. The things that he mentioned are very important. Make sure the statistics are accurate, because the person in charge, the Minister himself, isn’t checking every single thing. [Rather] they provide him with reports. Make sure the statistics are accurate. If the things that he has said have been done, great steps have been taken and this is something to be truly grateful for. Do something that will encourage these great workers in the country, our dear brothers and sisters. 

As for what I have prepared to say, this meeting that is held every year, is primarily for talking about the value of workers in our society for everyone to hear. What I want is for people to realize how valuable our workers are. Now, the term workers has a broad definition. The workers I am talking about now are the laborers in industrial and agricultural fields, those who provide services, and so on. I am not addressing researchers, university professors, and such. They too are workers in a way, but they are not the ones I am addressing right now. [Rather], it is you, the country’s community of laborers. This community should be appreciated. Secondly, some reminders have come to my mind that I would like to tell our officials and our dear workers themselves so that, God willing, we can better the condition of the community of workers.

I will now say some things about work, workers, and the responsibilities that we all have toward them.

Firstly, how can we understand the importance of workers? From the importance of work. Why is work important in a society? You can understand the importance of workers from the importance of work. Work is what keeps a society alive. Work is the backbone of people's lives. Without work there is nothing. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the facilities we use that our lives depend on, all of these are the products of work. Who does this work? Workers. So, what is the value of a worker? The value of a worker is equal to the value of a society’s existence. They are equal to the value of people’s lives.

Everyone should know this. Everyone needs to realize this. Workers themselves should pay attention to this point. Appreciate yourselves. Now, I will say a word about this appreciation at the end of my talk. If no work is done in a society, all these national assets will remain stagnant. We have mines, we have facilities, and we have soil and water. If work is done, all of these things will be blessings. The mines will be worked on, water and soil will be utilized, and life will continue. [However], if no work is done, these talents will all remain dead and dormant. Therefore, work is what makes our potentials flourish. That is the significance of work. Once we understand the importance of work, that’s when we will realize how important a worker is. This is one point. [We must] first of all have this knowledge about ourselves, about the subject of workers, and about the community of workers.

We should realize the importance of creating jobs and employment – that which is a job or true work. There are some jobs where you don’t see any work being done and there is no useful output from the time that is spent on that job. That’s not the work I am referring to here. If we spend eight, seven, five hours, maybe less, or maybe more in some organization, five or seven hours of work should actually get done there. We need to create jobs. The creation of jobs is important for various reasons. First of all, the country needs jobs. Our society needs to have work, and like I said before, if there is no work, there is no life. Secondly, a worker needs a job in order to run his/her life. Thirdly, workers have a spiritual and mental need to work. The Almighty God created human beings in such a way that being idle makes them bored. Work brings joy to a person’s life. So the need to work is not just because of a need to make a living. Spiritually, we also need to work. People need to work. Fourthly, work prevents corruption. Unemployment is a source of corruption. Much of the corruption we see is the result of unemployment.

A few years ago, three or four years ago, I began something with the administration of that time in order to identify social harms. I used to even personally take part in the meetings – meetings that lasted several hours – in order to think about and work on social harms. What I realized myself is that many of these harms are the result of unemployment. Addiction is related to unemployment. Corruption is related to unemployment. Theft is related to unemployment. Divorce and the breakup of families is related to unemployment. So you see, the organizations that are responsible for creating jobs – now the Labor Ministry is not responsible for creating jobs, the other ministries are mainly responsible for creating jobs - know how important it is for society to truly create work and jobs. They must make investments. This is another point.

Another point that I would like to make regarding work is that there should be a direct relationship between income and work. So according to the verse that our dear reciter of the Quran read, “Nothing belongs to a person except what he/she strives for” [Quran 53:39], people’s income should be based on their effort, work, and exertion. This is how society should be. This is very difficult to do. What does this mean? It means that much of this easy money and easy gains are wrong. We need to put a stop to the culture of making easy money in the country. I said that this is a long-term, difficult task, but it must be done. Much of this use of intermediaries, these dealings, these middlemen, the bribery that is given and received in some places, the usury that is taking place in some of the country’s economic sectors, and this taking advantage of relationships are resulting in people gaining an easy, hassle-free money without working. These are all harmful to the society. People’s income must be directly related to their work.

What I said does not necessarily mean that tomorrow, either you, the government organization, or myself will be able to do this. I want this culture to grow in society, the culture of income being in relation to work. Much of this discrimination, many luxurious jobs, much of this harmful wealth – the effects of which can be seen in society and there are people who are the epitomes of “affluent” individuals in society as mentioned in the Quran, “Indeed they had been affluent before this,” [Quran 56:45] – many of these are due to the fact that the relationship between income, interest, and work has been broken. There is no work, but there is income. This is not right. Income must come from work.

If we fight corruption, we will advance in this culture. [About] the issue of fighting corruption, what is corruption? Corruption is bribery, corruption is receiving certain privileges, and corruption is usury. These are forms of corruption. Every step taken to fight corruption is a real step toward progress in this culture that I mentioned. Some 20 years ago, I wrote a detailed article [an order involving eight points on fighting corruption given to the heads of state] about fighting corruption. It was around 2001 or 2002, around that time. In that article, I said that fighting corruption requires follow-up. It’s just like some stories and legends in which you hear about a seven-headed snake or a seven-headed dragon. When you cut off one head, the other six heads are still alive and working. All sides must be confronted. If our respected administrations and government officials had pursued this matter from that day, we would have undoubtedly been in a better situation today. Well, praise God, we have a democratic government and a revolutionary parliament now. We hope that they will follow up on the battle against corruption.

What I want to say is that if an official does not have the courage to fight the corruption that is taking place inside the country, even more so he/she will not have the courage to fight foreign oppressors. Suppose a person is taking illegal advantage of their business monopoly, they need to be stopped. This is difficult to do. Or this person is misusing bank credits. That person is not paying the debts he/she owes the bank. They need to be confronted. If you fail to confront them here, when an aggressive government like the US or some other country becomes insistent and demands that you must do this and that with regard to your nuclear energy, you won’t be able to fight back. If you don’t have the strength to fight [corruption] here, you won’t have the strength to fight there either.

Another point is about the responsibilities that exist with regard to workers. Now, I will repeat this once again that the things that the Minister said here are all very good. They are important matters. Make sure that they are carried out in detail. These matters that were mentioned are the main responsibilities with regard to workers. I would also like to add to this. In general, we all praise workers. Well, praising workers is a good thing to do. It makes others aware of a worker’s status, but it is not enough to just verbally praise them. As they say, “I love your verbal praises.” We must work on this, we must make an effort, and we must help.

One of the points that everyone should know, both government officials and entrepreneurs and investors since much of the work depends on their stock and facilities – they should all know this – is that if efforts are made to improve the life of workers, the state of the country will improve. When a worker has no worries, he/she has job security and a comfortable life, and he/she is able to afford things, the quality of his/her work will increase, and hence the quality of the products that he/she makes will also increase.

One of the problems we have when it comes to global trade or even our domestic trade is the quality of products. If workers are reassured and know that they will be able to afford things easily, if they know that they have job security, and if they are confident that their work will get better, the quality of their work will increase and they will be promoted. Everyone should know this. Therefore, any effort to improve a worker's life is actually an effort to improve their work, it is an effort to improve the product that is the result of their work, and it is an effort to make improvements in the country. It is an investment. If we try to solve the problems of the community of workers, we have actually made an investment. It is not an expense; it is an investment. Everyone should know this. The officials should realize this in the work that is related to the country's officials, [be it] governmental, parliamentary, or otherwise. Furthermore, the employers, investors, entrepreneurs, and the like also need to realize this.

Well, production is the backbone of the country. The backbone of the country's economy is "production." The backbone of production is the workers. We must not let the worker, [that is] this backbone, become weak. I mentioned in this year’s slogan of the year that there should be a growth in production. So, how does a growth in production come about? An important part of production growth is related to the workers. [If] they pursue their work with assurance and eagerness, there will be this [growth]. So bear this in mind then. Our respected officials, as well as those who are interested in making investments, creating jobs, creating workshops, and the like should note that in order to have a growth in production and in order to improve the current situation, they need to keep in mind that the improvement of the workers’ lives is an important principle.

Another point is the need for a fair sharing of the income from work, which we discussed in one of the articles we wrote on the policies of the economy of resistance. This was discussed a long time ago, about the workers’ share as human capital. They are a human resource. They are human capital and are more effective than material capital. They and their creating value for the products that are made should be taken into consideration. Now I want to draw a conclusion from this, and that is, if we want the workers’ share in creating value to increase, we must plan for their education, skills training, and experience, which was, of course, what the honorable Minister mentioned as well. This matter should be taken very seriously.

The share of a worker who is skilled, experienced, trained, and innovative when it comes to creating value for the end product is much greater. His share of the income should also increase accordingly. Now, this does not mean that we want to challenge investors and the like. No, I don’t recommend that at all. Investors, entrepreneurs, and workers are all necessary and needed. If one of them is absent, there is nothing the other can do. They both need each other.

The thing that can ensure this fair share is for there to be fairness. There needs to be an environment where fairness is practiced, contrary to what the communists did. They shouted this slogan, but they did not put it into action. They were lying about it. They used to incite an atmosphere of war, conflict, and so on. In action, it became clear that they were making a mistake. It was a big mistake. They didn’t get anywhere, and they did not adhere to what they had said in practice. An atmosphere of fairness, an atmosphere of cooperation and empathy, an atmosphere in which you know that God is watching you must exist in order to be successful. Of course, the tools of capital on the one side cause the rights of workers to be violated on the other side in some cases. This must be prevented. There may also be some limitations affecting the other party. Those too should be taken into consideration. So this was another point.

Another point that can be understood from what I have said is that providing the background for the improvement of a worker’s capabilities is a duty. There is a tradition that I have written down here. [The Prophet of Islam (pbuh) said that] if anyone oppresses a worker, if they oppress him/her when it comes to paying his/her wages, all of their good deeds will be destroyed – their good deeds will be gone. And the Almighty God will forbid this person from even smelling the scent of heaven. So that’s how it is.

Well, what kinds of oppression? Is oppression just not giving them their wages? Well yes, that is a great injustice, but it is not the only oppression. I believe that not taking action on issues such as providing the workers with insurance and healthcare, or not helping them to improve their skills and education, or not giving them any space to use their initiative are all injustices. In other words, if you don’t want the workers to be oppressed, you must provide the means and prepare the background for them to improve their skills. You should provide them with insurance and healthcare for themselves and their families. You should provide them with job security. You will be doing an injustice if these things are absent. So this is another point.

Another point that I would like to mention, which may be the last point here, is that our community of workers is a community that has been loyal to the Revolution and the government up until now. You see, these 14,000 martyrs are actually 14,000 flags of honor in the hands of workers. Now, I have read the biographies of martyrs, and some of them were workers. They also had families. Some had two, three, or four children, but they felt they had a duty. They saw that the enemy had attacked the country, the Revolution, and the system. They felt a sense of responsibility, so they left their families behind, put their trust in God, made their way to the battlefields, and were martyred. Of course, the number that went [to fight in the war] were much more than this, and praise God, they are alive. They were not martyred. But 14,000 martyrs is no joke.

I believe the most important sign of the workers’ loyalty to the system has been their behavior over the past few decades. At the beginning of the Revolution, different terrorist groups made efforts inside the country. These groups tried and their aim was to kill the workers out on the streets. They wanted to close down workshops. Their goal was to cripple the Revolution. This is what those terrorist groups wanted. Afterwards, those groups gradually disappeared, and it was mainly the foreign ill-wishers who entered then to carry out such actions. And their efforts have continued up until today.

They provoked people and took action using their superficial, unrealistic slogans in order to get the community of workers to stand against the government. But the community of workers reacted intelligently and stood up to them. This is very important. The community of workers was not influenced by all the propaganda that was spread on television, the radio, in social media, and the like. They did not do what [the foreign entities] wanted them to do. They knew what they had to do. Their response, in my opinion, was the great jihad of the community of workers. This is very valuable. They were vigilant in the face of those provocations. They tried very hard for the community of workers to stand against the government, but by the power and strength of God, they failed. They are still trying to do this, but by the power and strength of God, they will not succeed now nor will they succeed in the future.

Of course, there have been protests in the workers’ environment. As far as I am aware, some of these protests were reasonable. There were protests about delays in the payment of wages and protests about wrong transferences. There have been cases where a place or an important working assembly has been assigned to another place in an incorrect, corrupt manner. The workers are there and seeing this closely. They are protesting. This helps the government. It helps the system. It informs the system. Whenever there were such cases, the associated organizations, such as the judiciary, pursued the case and found that the workers were right. However, in these cases – I have been informed about a number of them – the community of workers drew a line separating themselves from the enemy in these cases. They didn’t let the enemy take advantage of their protests that took place in certain places about certain cases. [They said] we protest this practice, but we also despise the enemy. We are with the system. We are friends with the system. This is the workers movement.

Another point I want to mention, which I have referred to before, is the subject of creating jobs. Our officials should think about tackling the problem of unemployment for the young, educated people who are unemployed. We have a large number of young people [in the country]. There are two groups of young people whom we need to seriously think about. One group is the young, educated, unemployed group. I sometimes receive information about them from the meetings that our public relations department has with some families. Let’s say this young person has studied in a field and he/she has a graduate degree, but he/she is working at a very low-level job instead of doing something that is suitable for him/her. We have young people like this. We need to think of a solution for them. This is very important. These people are the capital of our country. They should not be kept waiting. This is one group.

The next group is made up of young people who are not seeking education or work. Our political, social, and economic experts need to really sit down and think about this. They should assist the government in this. They need to help the government and think of a way to help this group. Unfortunately, this group also exists in the country. They are young people who don’t have a job, and they are not seeking employment or an education either. We have a significant number of young people who are like this. These people are both young and are the capital of our country. They should not be wasted. We truly need to come up with a solution for them. This is something that the experts in economics and the humanities must do.

Anyway, my view of the community of workers is one of admiration and respect. I truly respect and honor you in the truest sense of the word. On the one hand, I believe that, God willing, there needs to be a noticeable change and improvement in the life of workers in the country considering the hard work that they undertake. On the other hand, I praise the community of workers from the bottom of my heart because of the way they have stood up to the enemy and their refusal to give in to the enemy’s provocations. I wish you all the best. May the Almighty God protect you and keep you safe, and may He make the holy heart of the Imam of the Time and the pure soul of Imam [Khomeini] pleased with all of you.

May God’s greetings, mercy, and blessings be upon you.