quote:

---

Saddam's Labor Laws Live On

by David Bacon
The Progressive

Most Iraqi workers hoped the fall of Saddam Hussein would liberate them, enabling them to recover their lost rights. Chief among them was the right to an independent union. In 1987, the regime of Saddam Hussein reclassified most Iraqi workers--those who labored in the huge state enterprises that are the heart of the country's economy-- as civil servants. As such, they were prohibited from forming unions and bargaining.

The occupation, however, didn't lift this decree. It is still in force, as privatization looms like a sword of Damocles over those workers and the factories on which they depend for survival. And while keeping in place the ban on unions, the occupation authorities have kept wages low and unemployment high.

For Iraqi workers, the signal could not be clearer: The overthrow of Saddam did not bring liberation.

Read More...

---

[ 09 December 2003: Message edited by: Mick ]

quote:

---

US occupation forces raid Iraqi union headquarters

December 09, 2003

Statement of the Iraqi Federation of Workers' Trade Unions (IFTU) About the Vicious Attack By the Occupation Forces on its Headquarters on Saturday 6th December 2003. To send your protest click here now.

To: Workers and the Iraqi Working Class,
Iraqi, Arab and World Public Opinion,
Supporters of Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights all over the world.

The American occupation forces, using a force of about ten armoured cars and
tens of soldiers, attacked the temporary headquarters of the IFTU (at the
headquarters of the Transport and Communication Union, in Karkh district,
Allawi Al Hilla, Baghdad) at 10.30 am on Saturday 6/12/2003, and arrested 8
of its leaders and cadres, who were handcuffed and taken away to an unknown
destination.

The attackers ransacked and destroyed the IFTU's possessions, tearing down
banners and posters condemning acts of terror, tarnishing the name of the
IFTU and that of the General Union of Transport Workers (on the building's main
front) with black paint and smashing windows glass, without giving any
reason or explanation.

The IFTU, as one of the most important organization of civil society, that
includes within its ranks sons of working class, the builders of a new Iraq and
the Democratic future of Iraq, strongly condemns this unjustified terrorizing
act by the occupation forces which targetted trade unionist cadres and
leaders who are well-known for their struggle against the hated
dictatorship.

While calling for the release of our detained colleagues as soon as
possible, and condemning any attempt to launch a new attack on trade union
centres, or further arrests of trade union leaders, we stress that the Iraqi
working class will not forgive this attack which constitutes a blatant
violation of democracy and human rights.

We, therefore, call upon all the forces of goodwill towards our people, as well as arab and international trade union organizations, to take a firm stand
against this act, and to call for the immediate release of detainees, and
compensation for the damages inflicted upon our colleagues and IFTU
headquarters as a result of this aggression

the Executive Bureau
The Iraqi Federation of Workers Trade Unions (IFTU)

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: The 8 trade unionists of the IFTU who were detained by US troops under the command of US officer named Kelly (or Kealy) on Saturday 6th Dember 2003 without explanation, were released on Sunday 7th December 2003 unharmed.

Pictures of IFTU headquarters and leading trade unionists of IFTU available from I.S.S.

Abdullah Muhsin, London Representative of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions
Mob': 00 44 (0) 79 31 41 63 44

---

[ 09 December 2003: Message edited by: Mick ]

quote:

---

Iraqi Oil Workers Throw Out KBR, Reconstruct Their Own Workplaces Autonomously

Occupied Basra, 12/12/03

Southern Oil Company Trade Unionists have declared their workplaces a no-go zone for Halliburton, formerly headed by US Vice President Dick Cheny's, subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. KBR was give a no-bid contract by USAID to reconstruct bomb-shattered oil refineries and installations in Iraq. Included in the contracts was authorisation to export and market Iraqi Oil. The SOC Union however, representing over 10,000 workers has banned all KBR representatives and foreign workers from entering their sites. SOC Union Head Hassan Jum'a says, ''Till this moment we haven't needed any foreigners to come in. We can do everything ourselves'.

Worker unrest erupted in Bergeseeya oil refinery and control section in October following the employment of Indian and Pakistani labourers by Kuwaiti subcontractors Al Khorrafi Company. Workers staged a wildcat two-day strike, physically threw out the foreign workers and demanded a portion of the 70% unemployed population of Iraq be employed instead. The employment of foreign labourers was halted immediately.

Occupation Watch visited SOC workers in the North Rumeilla crude oil pumping station, drilling and gas company and discovered that workers had been carrying out reconstruction work independently, using their own worn tools, canibalised spare parts from old equipment and parts purchased form the local market. Ali Mohammad Jowad, an engineer working in the water injection section of the station told OW, 'We haven't seen any KBR employee do any repair work whatsoever. They are not involved in any reconstruction in any way. KBR came and checked our equipment and promised to repair looted equipment but until this moment, nothing is repaired'.

Read More...

---

quote:

---

After 7 Months of serious and relentless work by the Preparatory Committee for the Foundation of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq - PCFWCUI, the first conference of workers unions and councils in Iraq has zealously taken place in Baghdad on December 8th, 2003. This conference was the fruit of PCFWCUI activities and its hard efforts to gather many workers around the unions and councils, as well as the foundation of many local unions and workers councils across Iraq.

After 7 hours of serious discussions around main agenda topics, key issues were endorsed; a list of workers immediate demands, a draft for a new Iraqi Labour Code and the main outlines of its legislature, as well as the election of the union leadership committee members. The attendees then endorsed a resolution to dissolve PCFWCUI and establish the Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq - WCUI.

The main discussions of this conference were revolving around the most basic and pressing issues of workers. They have provided a clear horizon to address the needs of the working class and a clear vision in the form of an action plan for the union. The most wonderful phenomenon, which had drawn every bodys attention, was the presence of workers representatives from across Iraq, from the farthest southern Basra to the northern Sulaimaniya. Also representatives of workers and Union of the Unemployed in Iraq-UUI from Kirkuk, Nassiriyah, Ramadi, Hilla, Kut, Samawa, in addition to Baghdad workers, were present at the conference.

This conference has proven to all, that the workers of Iraq do not recognize any religious, racial, tribal, or ethnic divisions among their ranks. That they can unite despite the current political wrangling in Iraq, and the attempts to divide Iraq along ethnic, religious, and nationalistic lines. At the time when the rightwing anti-workers political powers are fighting among themselves to gain more positions and are unable to unite, the workers have proven to be able to establish their free and independent union.

Long Live Working Class Solidarity

Long Live the Willpower of Workers

Congress of the WorkersCouncils and Unions in Iraq - WCUI

Baghdad, December 8, 2003
Address of the Abroad Representative of the Union of the Unemployed in Iraq UUI: Post Box 325, CH-3000 Bern 11, Switzerland. Tel: 0041 78 882 55 89 Email:[email protected],

Source: Congress of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq

---

[ 16 December 2003: Message edited by: Mick ]

quote:

---

Labor Rights? What Labor Rights?

Interview with journalist Tim Shorrock on December 11, 2003, outside a conference on Iraq reconstruction at the National Press Club in Washington, DC:

Tim Shorrock
[USLAW Campaign: Labor Rights in Iraq

I had a brief opportunity yesterday to question Deidre Lee, the CPA's Deputy for Operations in Washington, about labor rights, following her appearance at the Iraq Reconstruction Contracts Briefing at the National Press Club. Lee is the manager for all new CPA contracts, and had just spoken to about 150 prospective contractors and subcontractors about what to expect in the next round of contract awards, which will be put up for bid this week and awarded sometime in February. I transcribed this from my tape.

First question was from an unknown reporter. This is an interesting follow to David Bacon's excellent reporting. Also, see this notice for a meeting next week at the DOL about workers' comp in Iraq. http://www.dol.gov/esa/owcp/dlhwc/DBAagenda.htm

Q What are the major concerns you're hearing from contractors?

A You heard them in there. Indemnification. Insurance. Security. Reporting. People want to know what do I have to report. How will I be audited? It's all very very encouraging that they want to be transparent, too. They want to show they've done good work, they want to show they've fairly priced it. And so they want to know, tell us how to report.

Q How about labor standards, like minimum labor standards, health and safety for workers? Have you considered that?

A Certainly those are questions, umm.

Q Where can we find out where labor standards are considered by your department?

A I'm not sure I quite understand.

Q Do you have any minimum labor standards for the workers on these contracts? There's hundreds and hundreds of workers doing this work. Where have you set the standards?

A Well, of course if they're US laborers, we have specific laws we follow.

Q No, Iraqi laborers.

A We follow the appropriate Iraqi standards.

Q Do you know the CPA is following Saddam Hussein's labor laws in Iraq?

A We'll certainly look into that.

Q So you didn't know that?

---

[ 16 December 2003: Message edited by: Mick ]

quote:

---

Ba’athist Yellow Unions are not allowed to represent Trade Unions in Iraq!

Worker-Communist Party of Iraq

On 30/11/2003, a rally was organized by the so-called Workers’ Revolutionary Party to mark the 34th anniversary of their organ “News Line”. They had invited two Ba’athist trade unionists, Karim Hamza and Jammel Aljabouri Secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions in Iraq (these trade unions exited during the previous regime). I went along to this meeting to distribute publications of the Union of the Unemployed in Iraq, a post war union established by the unemployed workers to demand their rights. But what I came across was disgusting and outrageous. The generous welcome and applaud offered to these Iraqi Ba’athist trade unionists were unbelievable. Members of the WRP told me and my friend Dashti Jamal who is representing the UUI in London to go out and not to distribute our literature. I tried, in case they were not aware of the affiliation of those Iraqi trade unionists and that they were supporting Ba’athist unions and this was clearly an act against the workers in Iraq. The funny thing was that they were exchanging niceties and international greetings and solidarity in the name of workers in Iraq. My attempts to inform them of the true nature of the trade union that their guests were representing were in vain. The “General federation Of Trade Unions in Iraq” is commonly known in Iraq as the Yellow Union and it was a Ba’athist union.

During the Ba’ath regime there were no independent unions and the trade unions at that time were controlled by the regime and they were a tool at the hands of the Ba’ath regime to suppress workers and exploit them in many different inhumane ways. These Unions played a crucial role in sending thousands of workers to the war fronts during the Iran – Iraq war. These union leaders took pride in reporting to the security forces those refusing to go to the fronts. Countless numbers workers met their death as a result of the actions of the so-called trade unionists. Also these unions implemented the Ba’ath regime’s policy of changing the word Worker to “Officer” in an attempt to eliminate workers demands and say that there is no such thing as working class in Iraq, and that every one who works is an “officer” not a worker. The history of the Ba’athist trade unions is as grim and bloody as the history of the Ba’ath regime. They have only played a destructive role in the lives of workers in Iraq. These unions were working, and promoting the anti workers policies of Ba’ath party in which workers had no rights of association, strikes, and freedom of speech and expression. Since the collapse of the Ba’athist regime the genuine and real workers movement has expressed its manifestation in various ways.

The workers in Iraq have managed to present a radical agenda of change and to carry forward the demands of workers. The establishment of the Union of Unemployed, the workers councils, and the union of Oil Workers Company in the North of the country and also the preparatory committee for establishment of workers councils and trade unions which is having its first conference in Baghdad on 8/12/2003 to establish the real workers unions are a few example of the extend of the current workers movement in Iraq. All these workers organizations have been set up with direct participation of workers themselves to advocate and promote their rights, welfare and freedom.

The Union of the Unemployed in Iraq have carried out many mass strikes since its establishment in (1/05/2003) to demand jobs, security and welfare for the unemployed workers in Iraq, and this union has more than 130,000 members across Iraq. Its leaders are workers who have been resisting the Ba’ath regime, and they have endured intimidation and arrests by the coalition forces for defending workers, and the unemployed people of Iraq. These are the real people and representatives of workers in Iraq. The Workers’ Revolutionary Party is trying to help to restore the rein of the Ba’ath party in the name of workers solidarity. The working class in Iraq has been the silent victim of the regime and have suffered untold hardships at the hands of the Ba’ath regime and its so-called trade unions.

Promoting this kind of people who have the blood of Iraqi workers on their hands is a disgrace. Supporting and providing a platform for these people is an affront to the Iraqi working class and is tantamount to collaborating in the atrocities committed against the workers in Iraq.

I call upon all workers, trade unions and leftist parties in the UK and across the world to boycott these yellow unions and any kind of Ba’athist initiatives by any one who is trying to damage the struggle of workers and their true Trade Unions and workers organisations in Iraq. I call upon all of you to support the radical workers, women’s and youth movement in Iraq through giving your support to the Union of Unemployed, Organisation of Women’s Freedom, and preparatory committee for the establishment of workers councils and trade unions in Iraq.

No to Ba’thist Criminals


Houzan Mahmoud

Member of Worker communist party of Iraq / Britain committee

[email protected]
Tel: +44 (7956 88 3001)

---

[ 16 December 2003: Message edited by: Mick ]

quote:

---

US occupation forces in Iraq escalated their efforts to paralyze Iraq's new labor unions with a series of arrests this weekend. On Saturday, a convoy of ten humvees and personnel carriers descended on the old headquarters building of the Transport and Communications Workers union, in Baghdad's central bus station, which has been used since June as the office of the Iraqi Workers Federation of Trade Unions. Twenty soldiers jumped out, stormed into the building, put handcuffs on eight members of the Federation's executive board, and took them into detention.

"They gave no reason at all, despite being asked over and over," says federation spokesperson Abdullah Muhsin. Soldiers painted out the name of the federation on the front of the building with black paint. Because the new Iraqi unions lack basic resources like office furniture and machines, there was little to confiscate in the building. "But we did have a few files, and they took those," Muhsin adds. Ironically, the office had posters on the walls condemning terrorism, which soldiers tore down in the raid.

---

quote:

---

Umm Qasr -- From National Pride to War Booty
By David Bacon
Special to CorpWatch
December 15, 2003

In 1958, Iraqi nationalists and radicals threw out the king imposed on them by the British after World War One. Over the next five years of relative freedom and democracy, Iraq began putting together a nationalized, planned economy, based on its oil wealth. Hundreds of factories were eventually constructed, making it the most industrialized country in the Middle East. A new deepwater port was built on the Persian Gulf, Umm Qasr, which became a lynchpin in that plan. From its piers Iraq began to ship the goods from those factories to buyers in other countries throughout the region. The port became a symbol of progress and independence, an achievement of the Iraqi revolution.

Today Umm Qasr, under the US military occupation of Iraq, has become war booty. It was the first Iraqi enterprise to be turned over, not just to a private owner, but to a foreign one. Even before US troops had reached Baghdad, in Washington DC the Bush administration gave the concession for operating the port to Stevedoring Services of America, a politically-connected firm handling cargo around the world that has a long history of anti-labor policies. To Iraqis, instead of a symbol of national pride, Umm Qasr now represents the new era of foreign domination. And as a foreign corporation has taken over the operation of what once was a crown jewel of the Iraqi economy, the status of the people whose living depends on the jobs the port provides hangs in the balance.

Read More...

---

[ 18 December 2003: Message edited by: Mick ]

Southern Oil Company workers reject the CPA's joke 130 position wage-scale for civil servants and create their own instead. If not accpeted, they say, they'll 'Shut down Iraq'.

quote:

---

Iraqi worker representatives from the country's energy sector met last week to discuss the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority)imposition of low wages upon public sector workers in the country.

In early September, the CPA designed, and Paul Bremer the Third signed, Order 30 on Salaries and Employment Conditions, which cancelled all previous state subsidies for public sector workers such as family, housing, location, and risk benefits. Iraqi workers had relied on these subsidies in order to survive their pittance dictatorship wages. Instead, the CPA imposed a new 10 step, 13 level salary table which sets the country's minimum monthly wage at 69,000 Dinar ($40) per month. This is less than half of the recommended salary of a sweatshop worker in one of neighbouring' Iran's Free Trade Zones. The highest wage is a Super A Step 10 3 million Dinar ($1500) currently being paid to governors and high level ministry staff.

The new wagetable replaces emergency payments of $60, $100, $120, $220 and $280 per month. For any workers recieving the new CPA minimum wage, this means their income will almost be slashed in half.

Read More...

---

It's bad enough that their country is being raped for their resources, but they're not paying the workers anything? Screw the bastards.