Recent reports by two large trade union federations praised Iraqi workers for rebuilding their labor movement after the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime, in the face of war and terrorism, and in the face of anti-worker policies imposed by the occupying authorities and the governing coalition.
The first report was prepared by the Trade Union Congress (TUC), the umbrella federation of British trade unions. It was written after a delegation of union leaders traveled to Iraq in March of this year.
Because of security concerns, the TUC delegation stayed in the northern Kurdish region. During the visit, the delegation met with a broad cross section of Kurdish and Iraqi unions and representatives of the main Kurdish political parties and government.
The delegation met with the leaderships of the Kurdish General Workers Syndicate Union in Dohuk, a large number of Kurdish white-collar unions/professional associations including the Teachers Union, the Chemists Union, doctors’, dentists’ and lawyers’ associations. The delegation also visited non-unionized fire fighters.
After this, the delegation met with the national leadership of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), the largest trade union federation in Iraq, as well as its local leaders from Mosul and Kirkuk who had traveled to Kurdistan.
TUC called for continuing to work with IFTU and urged international recognition of the Kurdish unions. TUC offered training programs for union leaders and rank and file members. The union also called for raising funds to aid the IFTU in opening offices, acquiring technology, and training purposes.
The report by the AFL-CIO came after a meeting with AFL-CIO head John Sweeney by a diverse group of Iraqi trade union leaders who have just launched a tour of the US.
The AFL-CIO, affiliated unions and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) are assisting Iraqi unions in building an effective union movement while trying to create a secure peace under very difficult and complicated circumstances.
The AFL-CIO reports that Iraqi unionists are fighting for labor laws that help workers organize and enable them to win good working conditions and better living standards. Iraq’s union leaders also plan to help ensure a bigger role in the economy and the union movement for working women, who make up 60 percent of the workforce.
Under harsh economic conditions, including an unemployment rate at 50 percent and widespread violence sometimes aimed at workers who are joining or organizing independent unions (such as IFTU), workers are struggling to dismantle the legacy of the Hussein dictatorship. This legacy includes a union movement that in the past served the interests of the dictatorship.
One of the main fights Iraqi unions are leading is to prevent privatization of Iraq’s oil industry. Iraqi workers are calling for solidarity with US workers and are asking for support for their efforts.
Neither report addressed the Iraqi labor movement’s strong opposition, with the leadership of the IFTU, to the occupation of their country by the US and the UK, as well as the violence that targets workers and other non-combatants that has torn their country apart since the US-led war began.
Neither report addressed in much detail the demand that workers in Iraq have made for a sovereign democratic state, a system that respects the diversity of Iraq’s religious constituencies, creates protections for civil rights and liberties, protects the basic social safety net, and institutionalizes worker rights.
For more information on Iraq's labor movement, its history and current activities and views, click here.
--Reach Joel Wendland at jwendland@politicalaffairs.net.
