The London-based representative of the IFTU held a briefing in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 24 March 2004 to update parliamentarians and media on three current issues:
Recognition of the new IFTU by international labour centres.
The signing of the new Iraqi Transitional Administrative Law.
The recent ICFTU led fact-finding mission to Iraq.
The meeting was addressed by Abdullah Muhsin who also held a highly successful meeting with TUC International Secretary Owen Tudor a day earlier.
The meeting was chaired by Harry Barnes MP and attended by Rob Marris MP and Kelvin Hopkins MP as well as Robert G. Smith for Ann Clwyd, the Prime Minister's human rights envoy to Iraq and Alan Lloyd, for Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock, John Crowley of the Daily Telegraph, Eric Lee of LabourStart, and Gary Kent. Apologies and support were received from several Labour and Conservative MPs, who were away on parliamentary business. Contact was later made with the BBC.
The meeting heard about the positive position of the IFTU with regard to the Iraqi Transitional Administrative Law. "This document, despite its drawbacks, offers a balanced system of governance, giving clear separation between the three state institutions, and it guarantees (in Article 13) the right to form and join a union and the right to strike. It also guarantees the role of women with the leadership of the state and its institutions." And it also recognized Iraq as a federal state.
The drawbacks include no mention of social welfare provision, nor the role of the U.N., nor the role of the occupation forces during the two-year transition.
Nevertheless, it is a truly radical document, Muhsin concluded.
Posted at March 25, 2004 04:41 PM