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Members of Congress Call for Workers’ Basic Rights in Iraq
Workers in Iraq face the dual dangers of lack of basic security and lack of workers’ basic rights. Last week, 37 members of the U.S. House of Representatives wrote to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, urging him “to take the necessary steps to promote worker rights, which we believe are necessary for a well-functioning democracy.”
We believe that the promotion of fundamental worker rights is essential to ensuring that the exercise of human rights becomes a reality for the people of Iraq.
The lawmakers told al-Maliki they were particularly concerned that a ban on independent trade unions instituted in 1987 by former President Saddam Hussein remains in force, making it officially illegal to bargain collectively or strike. Under this law, public employees are not allowed to join a union, and organizing in the private sector is severely restricted.
Although public and private sector workers alike have been establishing trade unions across the country in defiance of these regulations, they technically have no legal standing and remain vulnerable to repression by the government and employers. In 2005, the Iraqi government also froze the bank accounts of all unions. The government also has used military force to break up workers’ protests in the oil fields.
Against this background, the members of Congress reaffirmed their support of al-Maliki’s government “as it continues to face challenges on numerous fronts.”
However, we strongly urge you to refrain from taking any further measures that may undermine the fundamental rights of workers, and we urge you to immediately recognize and encourage bargaining with all legitimate trade unions and promptly enact a new labor law that is consistent with the (International Labor Organization) ILO core labor rights.
Delegates to the AFL-CIO Convention in 2005 called for a quick withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and in March 2007, the federation’s Executive Council reaffirmed the convention resolution.
At a conference in Amman, Jordan, last year, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney outlined efforts being undertaken by the global labor movement and the AFL-CIO union movement to assist Iraqi workers and their trade unions. Sweeney said:
The AFL-CIO and the Global Labor Movement continue to condemn the abuses of fundamental worker rights and the lack of a legal framework of basic labor law in Iraq. We also believe that it is a basic human right that Iraqi workers freely associate and participate in rebuilding of your country and your economy. After four years of this war, we know that Iraqi workers are still deprived of a decent labor law that could be a foundation for a better life for you and your working families. Your unions are still denied the basic right to participate in economic policymaking in your country and hold your leaders accountable.
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2 Comments
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How disappointing that only 37 members of Congress were willing to sign on to this letter which simply calls for fundamental rights that should be afforded to all workers worldwide. The AFL-CIO lobbied for signatures, as did activists of US Labor Against the War. I am pleased that two Philadelphia representatives signed on – Bob Brady and Chaka Fattah – but quite disturbed that other area representatives did not.
I feel that the Iraq war is not only an issue for Iraqi workers, but American workers. It is one of the reasons our gas and oil prices are so high. Every war produces war inflation.
In addition it makes us a more vunerable country because it destroys our reputation with excesses such as torture and violations of human rights.
It makes a more repressive atmosphere for unions to operate in because it erodes the democratic atmosphere which unions need to florish. I am referring to the erosion of the Bill of Rights and growing lack of privacy and increased police excesses.
Last it asks us to send our most precious resource our children as recruiters who seek to make their quota promise our children anything and send them into a muddled mission.
The recruiters spend their time recruiting in upper class, not working class neighborhoods and the economic draft and need for education places an unfair burden on our union members.
I would like to see more articles on the effect of the Iraq war on the economy and our union rights on this blog.