TUC Condemns the Iraqi Government

At a meeting at the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the British Trade Union Congress (TUC) has made the following devastating five-point criticism of the Iraqi Government's treatment of their nation's Trade Union Movement.

The Iraqi Government are -

1. Using Saddam Hussein's laws to ban public sector trade unionism.

2. Introducing a new law to freeze union bank accounts and allow the government to interfere in union internal affairs.

3. Repeatedly failing to adopt an ILO-compliant labour law for several years to replace the anti-union Decrees.

4. Demanding elections inside Iraqi unions this summer on the government's terms, including disenfranchising public sector workers, prohibiting non-Iraqi citizens from standing for elections, and requiring candidates to secure the support of their employers.

5. Relocating leaders of an Iraqi oil union specifically to disrupt the union which has consistently opposed oil privatisation.

Here is the full report from the TUC.

If anyone spots a report of this in the British Mass Media, please let me know. It is, however, likely to make tomorrow's "Morning Star" and hopefully "Tribune" as they try to stir the conscience of the nation.

It should be noted that none of the five points apply to the Trade Union Movement in Iraqi Kurdistan, where federal powers are used in an entirely different way.