The NewStandard
www.newstandardnews.net
Iraqi Labor Activists Touring U.S. Call for End to Occupation
by Brendan Coyne
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=1957
Jun 21 - Six Iraqi labor leaders are finishing up a twenty city tour of the United States
this week, spreading word of their plight and seeking support for their organizing
efforts from fellow unionists in the US.
Strikes are becoming commonplace in the war-ravaged nation, where by many
accounts unemployment tops 50 percent and authorities have artificially depressed
wages as inflation pushes consumer good costs ever higher, according to information
released by US Labor Against the War in conjunction with the tour.
Top-most on the labor leaders' concerns is the right to organize, which they say is
being violated daily in Iraq by US troops, the Iraqi government and resistance fighters.
The six say they hope to help force meaningful labor protections into the nation's
permanent constitution if it is completed this year.
Organizers say Iraqi authorities harass them and that government troops have shot
striking workers.
According to Reuters, the union leaders say insurgents are targeting them as well.
Rebels have reportedly killed at least ten unionists, including Ali Hassan Abd, a
member of the Oil and Gas Union, and Hadi Salih, international secretary of the Iraqi
Federation of Trade Unions.
Rebels routinely harass workers trying to organize fellow employees and have
kidnapped several leaders, according to numerous reports. Resistance fighters
consider many unionists to be in collaboration with occupation forces or the new Iraqi
government, which they consider illegitimate.
The touring Iraqi labor leaders are calling for US troops to leave the nation. They
accuse the Iraqi and US governments of raiding their offices and charge that US
soldiers falsely arrested eight activists in 2003.
Though most jobs in Iraq are currently in the public sector, a still-standing 1987
decree issued by Saddam Hussein prohibits public employees from labor organizing.
Unions are also legally prohibited from protesting the privatization of industries in
which they work, while current legal and international structures in Iraq are
accelerating privatization.
Representatives of three unions are touring the country: the Iraqi Federation of Trade
Unions (IFTU), Federation of Workers Councils and Unions of Iraq (FWCUI) and
General Union of Oil Workers (GUOW).
© 2005 The NewStandard. See our reprint policy.
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Online sources used in this news brief:
US Labor Against War: "USLAW Statement on Iraqi Labor Solidarity Tour of US"
International Labor Communication Association: "Several Iraqi Union Leaders
Kidnapped, Oil Activist Murdered"
Reuters: "Iraq Unions Say Thwarted by All Sides"
San Jose Mercury News: "Iraqis tell of Unions’ Plight"
The NewStandard [previous]: "International unions condemn torture, killing of Iraqi
labor leader"
Coalition Provisional Authority: "Transitional Administrative Law"
Dow Jones Newswires: "In Pursuit of Investment"
Institute for War and Peace Reporting: "Privatisation Plan Drawn Up"
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