Labour : Whose Side Are You On?

On This

Urgent - Act To Defend Iraqi Trade Unions

See Labour Start on what is happening and how you can act to protect the Trade Union Movement in Iraq.

The issue is further explained by the TUC here, here and here.

Defend Iraq's Oil Workers

FROM TUC INTERNATIONAL

Take action to stop harassment of Iraq oil workers!

After weeks of industrial action in the southern oil fields in Iraq, management are trying to undermine the Refinery Workers Union by sending four of its leaders to other workplaces. This is a standard management tactic in Iraq, and in the past has often meant sending union leaders to more hostile, violent areas of the country. But pressure from Iraqi trade unionists and trade unionists around the world has stopped this before, and we can do it again.

Sign the LabourStart appeal demanding that the Iraqi Oil Minister rescind the transfer orders and support the call for an ILO-compliant labour law in Iraq.

Support The Iraqi Labour Movement

Here the TUC explains the urgent need for the introduction of fair and just Labour Laws in Iraq.

Here the case is further explained in an interview with Hashmeya Musshin a-Saadawi (photo) President of the Electricity Workers Union in Basra. Having met her at the TUC, the Commons and in Iraq I know of her full commitment to the cause of peace and progress in Iraq.

To support this campaign sign up here.

And press your own Labour Movement organisation to endorse the campaign, by them sending a supportive email to Abdullah Muhsin, the International Representative of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) at postmaster@iraqitradeunions.org

Solidarity With The Iraqi Teachers' Union

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber has issued the following message of solidarity to the leaders of the Iraqi Teachers' Union:

'British trade unions salute the bravery of the Iraqi Teachers Union and its leaders in resisting interference by the Government and political parties of Iraq. We call on Iraqi politicians to respect Iraqi teachers' desire for a free and independent trade union to represent them, and abandon threats and intimidation against its leaders.'

For the full TUC statement and the reasons behind it see here.

Hat Tip : Labour Friends of Iraq

Iraqi Government Latest Attacks On Trade Unions

SUE ROGERS
(Chair TUC Iraq Solidarity Committee)



The TUC has called for protests to be aimed at the Iraqi Embassy in London over attempts by the Iraqi Government to seize control of the Iraqi Teachers' Union (ITU). The Iraqi Embassy can be contacted via this link.

Urging trade union members to email their protest to the Iraqi Ambassador, Sue Rogers the Chair of the TUC Iraq Solidarity Committee and Treasurer of the Teacher Union NASUWT said:

'The Iraqi Government is acting like Saddam Hussein, treating unions as the property of the state. Iraqi trade unionists and teacher trade unions around the world are outraged at this latest attempt to seize control of our sister union.The Government has demanded that the union hand over the keys to its buildings, its membership lists, and is demanding that the existing leaders stand down or face jail sentences of three to seven years despite doing nothing wrong. This is a breach of fundamental human and trade union rights. The Iraqi Government must not be allowed to act in this dictatorial way.'

Sue Rogers is leading a TUC delegation at a workshop in Erbil, Iraq for trade union leaders from all over Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. Yesterday Iraqi trade unions issued a joint statement of solidarity with the ITU, who have angered some in the Iraqi administration by securing substantial pay rises for teachers after a series of strikes and demonstrations last year.

The statement, signed by the leaders of the main Iraqi trade union confederation and the two Kurdish confederations, as well as the Kurdish Teachers Union and the powerful oil unions of Southern Iraq, appears below.

ITU President Jasim al-Lami, who has been invited to the NASUWT conference this April, was yesterday travelling back from the workshop to meet with Ministers in Baghdad. Mr al-Lami was jailed for six years in Abu Ghraib under Saddam Hussein and says he is ready to face jail again to defend his union.

Protests by global trade unions have already been lodged with the International Labour Organisation which last year censured Iraq for its anti-union laws, some of which have been left over from Saddam Hussein. The TUC has also written to Ministers in the UK.


Erbil Declaration of Solidarity with the Iraqi teachers' union

We, the leaders of the trade union movement throughout Iraq - including Iraqi Kurdistan - meeting with our international colleagues in Erbil, condemn the harassment and threats directed at the Iraqi Teachers' Union and their democratically-elected leaders.

This action is an attack on fundamental human rights and contrary to your Government's obligation to uphold the ILO core conventions, including Convention 87 on Freedom of Association.

We call on the Iraqi Government to respect the right of the Iraqi Teachers' Union to decide its own leadership in accordance with its own rules. We call on you to withdraw your threats to imprison Iraqi Teachers' Union leaders and to desist from your attempts to seize the assets, membership lists and documentation of the Iraqi Teachers' Union.

We reject your attempt to seize the union and express our solidarity with the membership and leadership of the Iraqi Teachers' Union.

Failure to respond positively can only result in a major campaign - across Iraq and around the world - to highlight your Government's appalling action.

We are copying this letter to the President and Prime Minister of Iraq and making it public.

Signed by

General Federation of Iraqi Workers

Kurdistan Workers Union

General Workers and Crafts Syndicate Union of Kurdistan

Kurdistan Journalists Union/Iraq

Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions

Kurdistan Teachers Union/Iraq


There has also been an additional attack by the Iraqi Government on the operations of the Iraqi Agricultural Workers Union as shown here. Add your protests on this to your email to the Iraqi Embassy.

The Case For Political Education

See here

Hadi Saleh

Hadi Saleh
Eric Lee of Labour Start has circulated this telling email -

It has now been four years since the murder of Hadi Saleh, the
international officer of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions.

I had the honor of meeting Hadi not long before his death when he
visited Britain. We discussed the trade unions in Iraq and ways in
which we could give them support and solidarity.

Not long after Hadi was killed, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in
Britain published a book in his honor entitled "Hadi Never Died".

"On January 4, 2005," it began, "masked assassins broke into his home,
bound his feet and hands, and blindfolded him. Then they tortured and
burned his body and, finally, strangled him with an electric cord. A
life of idealism and selflessness, filled with solidarity and love for
his family, country and the labour movement, came to this terrible,
pain-filled end."

The book does much more than describe Hadi's murder. It tells the story
of death and re-birth of the Iraqi trade union movement.

"Hadi Never Died" is a large format, full-color paperback and
LabourStart is pleased to be able to offer it to our readers for £10.00
(about US$14.50) -- with free shipping to anywhere in the world.

Please order multiple copies for yourselves, your co-workers and other
members of your union.

To order "Hadi Never Died" securely go here:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2049459

Thank you.

Eric Lee


I can confirm the importance of everything that Eric says, having chaired two meetings which Hadi Saleh addressed in the Commons. He was as fine a person as it has been my privilege to meet. I was honoured to be one of the speakers at the remembrance service held in his memory at the TUC's Congress House on 13 February 2005. There is no better way to repay our debt to his work than to give support to the Iraqi Trade Union Movement. The book "Hadi Never Died" explains both why and how. For more details on the book click here and to my post here for the day I became threescoreyearsandten.

Support Matombo And Chibebe

Here Is An Important Message Taken From The TUC's Web-Site.

"This is a photo mosaic of Lovemore Matombo and Wellington Chibebe, the President and General Secretary of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). They were arrested on 8 May for speaking out about the state-sponsored violence in Zimbabwe - or as Robert Mugabe's government put it "spreading falsehoods prejudicial to the State".

Lovemore and Wellington are due to appear in court on 30 July, to defend themselves against these charges. The mosaic is made up from the pictures of over 2,000 trade unionists from around the world, who have come together to make this public demonstration of support for the ZCTU leaders and all unionists in Zimbabwe.

Please take a moment to add your voice to this growing tide of support for these brave trade unionists at www.wearezctu.org...."

However Small, We Are All Part Of A Wider Picture

Words And Pictures From The TUC (Plus TUC Update below)
"This is a photo mosaic made up of more than 2,000 photographs, sent in by individual trade unionists from around the world in support of Lovemore Matombo and Wellington Chibebe, the President and General Secretary of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).

On 23 June Lovemore Matombo, President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and Wellington Chibebe, General Secretary of ZCTU are due in court to face charges of 'spreading falsehoods prejudicial to the state'. As part of their bail conditions they are not allowed to address political or public gatherings. These charges and bail conditions are clear breaches of free speech and freedom to associate.

This giant image of Lovemore and Wellington has been created to allow them to 'appear' at a demonstration in London, and around the world on Monday 23 June, even though they are being silenced in their own country, and to protest at the state sponsored violence and intimidation which has intensified since the first round of elections in March.

We are calling for:

1.trade unionists to be free to organise and speak without being arrested and tortured.
2.an end to violence and intimidation
3.real democracy for Zimbabwe.
4.justice and rights for Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans."

I am pleased to be part of the wider picture.

TUC's Update Here

Your Photo Is Needed

I have just sent my photo (less my glasses to avoid the flash) to the TUC as a means of supporting its campaign for the protection of Zimbabwean Trade Union leaders. Your photo is also urgently needed to help this campaign. Click here to see what it is all about and how you can help. Spread the word via your own blog.

How To Improve Iraq

The lead article in this week's Economist (left) is entitled "Iraq starts to fix itself". It is backed up by a briefing article on what it sees as recent changes in Iraq, which is entitled "Is it turning the corner?". The analysis is, however, a cautious one which ends -

"Iraq's future is still full of pitfalls. The sectarian chasms remain deep, the wounds of strife raw. But for the first time since the insurgency against the Americans took off, the tide, which can quickly ebb, is flowing in the direction of the new order".

In a critical frame of mind, these articles are well worth studying. Hot from discussing the issue of Iraqi Trade Unionism with a group of Norwegian Trade Unionists at Wortley Hall in South Yorkshire, my response to the Economist's articles is as follows.

If "Iraq has started to fix itself", there is an urgent move it could make to extend this process. The Iraqi Government could both recognise and consult with its Trade Union Movement.

Currently Trade unions are banned in the dominant public sector of the economy under a law inherited from Saddam Hussein. In case the law does not fully bite, Trade Union funds have been sequestrated by the State in a decree adopted in 2005; whilst the Iraqi Government has persistently refused to adopt alternative ILO-compliant laws. Even Trade Union elections in the smaller private sector are to be interfered with this summer by restrictions on who can stand as candidates. Also Trade Union leaders trying to work in the Basra Oil Industry have been relocated elsewhere following their organising opposition to oil privatisation.

Free Trade Unions have a vested interest in civil liberties, democratic practices and non-sectarianism. Thankfully the Iraqi Government's controls do not apply to the federal unit of Iraqi Kurdistan, where the percentage of workers in Trade Unions is higher than in Britain and where they have made their own contribution to a section of Iraq which has been fixing itself for some time."

It should be noted that my source is the TUC.

Iraqi Government Attack Basra Oil Workers

The Oil Industry in Basra
In the item I posted yesterday, I reported on the TUC's condemnation of the Iraqi Government for their anti-Trade Union activities. The TUC made five specific claims about the role of the Iraqi Government. The final one was that they are "Relocating leaders of an Iraqi oil union specifically to disrupt the union which has consistently opposed oil privatisation".

The Iraqi Trade union concerned is the "General Union of Oil Employees in Basra". It has itself published a statement which elaborates on the situation. This commences -

"The Iraqi Oil minister, Hussein Al-Shahirstani, had ordered the transfer of 8 Oil Union activists.

They used to work at the Oil refineries in the south. This act represents the minister's anti-union policy, and lack of respect for Unions and Unions' activists in the Oil sector.

Those activists, through their hard work, are well known for fighting corruption and corrupt-ministry gangs in the Oil sector.

They have been transfered to Baghdad Al-Dorah neighborhood (known for worsening security situation, and high level of sectarian killings) .

In the context of Iraqi security situation such a transfer is rightfully regarded as Human rights crime."

See here for the statement in full.

My own fuller coverage of the Trade Union situation in Iraq appears here.

Trade Unionists Arrested For May Day

Wellington Chibebe (opposite) and Lovemore Matombo (see this video) are respectively General Secretary and President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. They have been detained in Harare for exercising their rights to make May Day Speeches.



Here is the letter of protest to Zimbabwe's Ambassador from our TUC, dated 9 May.

"Dear Ambassador

Detention of Trade Unionists

On behalf of the TUC General Council, I write to express our deep concern over the detention of the leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) on 8 May 2008 in Harare.

Our information is that Mr Wellington Chibebe, General Secretary of ZCTU and Mr Lovemore Matombo, President, were both detained at the Harare Central Police Station in connection with the speeches made by them on May Day. We have also learnt that they have been charged with inciting people to rise against the government and spreading falsehoods about the current political crisis in your country.

The detention of trade unionists for organizing activities relating to the exercise of their legitimate rights constitutes a gross violation of the ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. Moreover, your country, which ratified Convention 98(1998) and Convention 87 (2003), is obliged to observe the workers' rights enshrined in them. This incident will, no doubt, tarnish the image of your country and further aggravate the current problems, making national dialogue and reconciliation even more difficult.

We urge you to pass on our deep concern over the safety of the colleagues to your Government, use your influence with the authorities to secure their immediate release and ensure that all Zimbabweans are allowed to exercise their democratic rights without interference from the State.

Yours sincerely
Brendan Barber
General Secretary"

Zimbabwe's Trade Unions

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) is a major force of opposition to Mugabe's massive abuse of power in their country. Together with the Congress of South African Trade Unions they have issued this statement about the current political crisis in Zimbabwe. It is gathering widespread support throughout the international Trade Union movement, including our own TUC. Here is a small extract -

"The ZCTU salutes the people of Zimbabwe, especially in the rural areas, for overcoming all the obstacles to prevent them exercising their vote. These included the chaotic state of the voters' roll, restrictions on the media, the cancellation of some political meetings, the denial of access to opposition parties into certain rural areas, village headmen calling people to the polling stations brandishing the voters' roll in order to intimidate them, statements by Generals that they would not salute any opposition party leader, and by President Mugabe that he would not accept defeat".

Solidarity With Iranian Trade Unionists

Mahmound Salehi (right) released. Mansour Osanloo still imprisoned.

Good news from the TUC's International Web-site, but much more needs to be achieved. They say -

The TUC has welcomed the news today (Sunday 6 April) that Iranian bakery workers' leader Mahmoud Salehi was released from the City of Sanandaj‘s central prison at 3pm. He had completed a one-year jail sentence for trade union activities nearly two weeks ago, but the authorities had refused to release him. The TUC reiterated its call for the Iranian Government to release bus workers' leader Mansour Osanloo from the notorious Evin prison in Tehran, to free all jailed Iranian trade unionists, and to abide by international labour laws.

For the full TUC Media Release, see here.

Reasons For An Iraqi Commitment.

This is Hadi Saleh. He was the International Secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU). He moved out of exile to help establish this major organisation as soon as Saddam Hussein was being removed from power. When I was an M.P., I had the privilege of Chairing two meetings which Hadi addressed in the Commons. On an evening in January 2005, masked assassins broke into his home in Baghdad. They bound, blindfolded, burnt and tortured him. Finally strangling him to death with electric wire. His life was an inspiration to all Trade Unionists and socialists. It is celebrated in the TUC publication "Hadi Never Died".




This is Najim Abd-Jasem who was kidnapped, brutally tortured and murdered by terrorists in Iraq in March 2007 because of his Trade Union activities. He was the General Secretary of the Mechanics, Printers and Metalworkers Union in Baghdad. I was also privileged to meet him in Arbil almost a year earlier. With other Trade Unionists from areas such as Basra and Baghdad, he had flown to the safer area of Iraqi Kurdistan to meet with our delegation from British Trade Unions and Labour Friends of Iraq. The meeting was hosted by our friends in the Kurdistan Workers Federation. I reported on our meeting with Najim and his fellow Trade Unionists last April.




This is my certificate of Honorary Membership of the IFTU which Hadi helped establish. It was presented to me at the meeting in Arbil in which Najim took a prominent part.

Spreading The Word

I would encourage anyone attending the TUC Conference next week to call in at this Fringe Meeting entitled "Solidarity With Iraqi Workers". I was with five out of the six people on the platform on a memorable visit to Iraqi Kurdistan last year.

I will be making my own contribution on the topic to the men and women of Harlech this week-end, when ex-Coleg Harlech students assemble for their annual get-together.

It is 40 years since I went to the College to participate in a Summer School. Over the years I have, however, written many references for Adult Students who went on to study at the College. Most of these were Derbyshire and Yorkshire Miners. Although like myself via full-time studies at Ruskin College, many of them then moved into areas of work that made use of the qualifications they obtained.

I dislike just repeating a talk I have given. So I have come up with a fresh analytic framework for the type of material I have regularly posted on this blog. I hope that it makes sense to the listeners, so that they will then be able to become contributors in our discussions.

Iraq : Whose Side Are We On?

The importance of the role of Trade Unions in Iraq is reflected in the latest edition of the TUC's Iraq Bulletin which was issued on Thursday.

Amongst the items they cover are details of the current visit to this country by a delegation from the Iraqi Teachers' Union, who are guests of their equivalent Trade Unions within this country.

Today's Observer runs a telling article about the visit. Teachers have the largest single Union in Iraq and it has close links with their sister organisation in Iraqi Kurdistan.

One of the best ways to help the people of Iraq is to give practical and moral support to bodies such as their Teachers' Union via the TUC's Iraq Appeal and/or by contacting Labour Friends of Iraq (or myself as Vice President of the latter.)

It is far better than pretending that the people who kill and maim teachers, lecturers, schoolchildren and students (and who do this) are to be excused as being "freedom fighters".

Hadi Never Died: Hadi Saleh and the Iraqi Trade Unions

Trade unionists and progressives around the world should be shouting about this small miracle from the rooftops. A clandestine and repressed trade union movement with only a hundred or so cadres, under the thumb of a fascist-type state, develops almost overnight into a powerful movement with more than 200,000 members.

But the story of the Iraqi trade union movement – and its potential to help stabilise Iraq as a decent democracy and help spread democratic, pluralist and trade union values throughout the Middle East – has not yet appeared on the radar screens of all labour activists.

This invaluable, detailed and passionate book is a tribute to the life and times of Hadi Saleh who was jailed, nearly executed and then exiled for his union activities. He returned before Saddam’s regime fell and, together with his comrades, set about re-establishing the movement. He was well known to a wide range of free trade union leaders, and others throughout the world, as he tirelessly criss-crossed the globe to muster international support for the new Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions.

He was flesh and blood to many who decided that the key priority was solidarity with the Iraqi movement. His murder was brutal in the extreme. One small consolation is that it doubled the determination of many who had met him to increase solidarity with his comrades.

I was one of those lucky enough to meet Hadi when he addressed MPs and supporters of Labour Friends of Iraq in the Commons on two occasions. Hadi was a quiet man with a permanent smile and his words energised those who met him.

This books pays a handsome tribute to Hadi and reminds us that the most fitting way to acknowledge his courage is to concern ourselves with the needs of our brothers and sisters in the new and unified General Federation of Iraqi Workers