Read the full text of Lula’s speech at the May 1 event – 05/01/2023 – Market

Read the full text of President Lula’s speech at the unified event of the centrals on May 1st.

I’m doing this walk because it’s the first time, in a million public events that I’ve participated in, that the impression we have is that I’m going to do a press conference. The press is here at the front and the people are at the back. I think whoever made this platform here, I think they were indebted to the press and decided to please the press too much and give more prominence to the machines than to the companions, who are the reason for this act.

I’m going to try to make a quick speech with you, since the sun that looked like it wasn’t going to appear today appeared strong. Fellow union leaders, presidents of the centrals, fellow [Luiz] Marinho, Minister of Labor, partner Cida [Gonçalves]Minister of Women, Paulo Teixeira, Minister of Agrarian Development, Paulo Pimenta, of Communication.

I am very grateful that you have given me another four years in office to fix this country. The mission I took on is to prove once again that this country can be happy again, that our people can smile again, that our people will not remain victims of hatred. We want people to go back to being humanists, hug each other, talk. We can no longer live in a world where walking in red makes you be seen as an enemy and it is forbidden to say that you are left wing.

You cannot live in a country where school is not taken seriously, where employment is not taken seriously by government officials, where the interest rate does not control inflation, it actually controls unemployment, as it is responsible for part of the situation we live in today.

On March 8, we drafted a bill that we sent to Congress. For the first time, we are really going to guarantee, without commas and without periods, that women have to earn the same salary as men if they have the same job. It is not possible that after so many millennia, [a mulher ser tratada] like a lesser being. We need to be tougher and tougher against harassment against women. The lack of respect for our fellow women is a disgrace. We all know that the woman is not weak, that many economic activities, the woman is much stronger than the man, much more courageous and much more willing to fight.

Each one of you knows, when someone appears at your door to ask for something, sometimes the man says: ‘honey, go there’, the woman has much more courage to face it.

Another thing we did was institute a real increase in the minimum wage above inflation. The worker will receive, in addition to inflation, the average GDP growth, as we did when I was president until 2010. When the minimum wage increases, the trade citizen gains, the one who sells hot dogs, the one who sells food. The worker having more money, he buys more. He buys more, commerce generates jobs, industry generates jobs and the ferris wheel of the economy starts to turn and everyone starts to earn in this country, even the richest, with the increase in the minimum wage.

You gave me four years and I only have four months in office, but we started giving the signal today. Until yesterday, the worker who earned more than R$ 1,903 paid income tax on what he earned, more than R$ 1,900. Now, we have increased the limit to R$2,640, up to that amount, no one will pay another penny of Income Tax. And you know that I have a commitment with you that we will have an exemption of up to R$5,000 until the end of my mandate.

After a request from the centrals, we began to study if the boss does not pay income tax on the profit and on the dividends he receives, why do workers have to pay tax in the PLR? We are studying, Haddad was at the meeting, who knows for next year, that in the same way that the boss who earns millions does not pay tax on profit, that the worker does not pay income tax on his participation in the company’s profits.

We are going to announce again the recreation of Farmácia Popular, I saw the president of the Union of Retirees saying that the old people cannot afford medicine, the Popular Pharmacy will guarantee the medicine. We will also try to ensure that the SUS guarantees the so-called specialist doctor. Sometimes you go to a UBS in your village, then when the doctor says you need to see a specialist, let’s guarantee that poor people in this country have that right, so they don’t die with a prescription at the head of their bed.

Another thing we are going to bring back is the generation of jobs. You saw that I’ve been to the United States, China, Argentina, Uruguay and now I’m going to England. We are inviting foreign businessmen to make investments in Brazil, we are showing them the big projects that we are going to present in the third PAC. It will be the biggest infrastructure project in this country, so we will generate jobs again. What transforms the worker into a more than honorable person is him or his wife working and at the end of the month bringing food home with the sweat of their work.

Many times, you in the press say that I make a fuss about you, today it was you who made a fuss about me, making me dance on top of this stage.

Finally, here in São Paulo, we will finish at the Federal University of ABC in São Bernardo do Campo. We are going to inaugurate the Federal University of São Paulo and we are going to start building the Federal University of the East Zone. When Fernando Haddad was mayor, he donated the land, but until today they haven’t laid a stone. I’m going with Camilo [Santana, ministro da Educação] and when my mandate ends, in 2026, I will say ‘you now have the university in the east zone’.

When I was president, from 2003 to 2010, the success of my government I owe to the solidarity and support of the working people of this country. You have given me another chance and I want to prove that, in these next four years, we are going to do much more than I did in the eight years of my first terms. I’m going to do it because of my commitment to people who work all day, who travel two hours by bus, a crowded subway and often can’t earn enough to buy a basic food basket.

You remember that in the other two mandates we created 22 million jobs with a formal contract. Let’s go back to creating lots of jobs. It’s okay if the guy works on an app, often the guy doesn’t want to sign the wallet. No problem, what we want is for the person who works with the application to have social security. If he gets sick, he has to be covered for the person to be treated.

In the last government, they spent investing R$ 20 billion in four years, to build a road, a bridge. In this year alone, we are going to invest R$ 23 billion. That is, in one year, we will do more than they did in four in infrastructure.

I want to invite everyone to become a soldier against fake news, we cannot allow lies to continue to prevail in this country. Every companion who has a cell phone needs to be aware, you cannot send lying messages, which you know could harm the person. It was the truth that defeated the former President of the Republic.

Do you remember that they tried to carry out a coup on the 8th [de janeiro]. I want to end by saying to you: all the people who tried to carry out a coup will be arrested, this country wants real democracy, it wants respect.