The NewStandard 
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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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