Subhi Abdullah Mashadani recently completed a succesful visit to Britain at the invitation of Bob Crow, General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers (RMT) to speak at RMT's Annual General Meeting in Portsmouth. He was also given the opportunity to address delegates at the conference of Britain's largest union, UNISON when conference standing orders were suspended at the request of UNISON President Dave Anderson. Here he is interviewed by RMT member Alex Gordon on the current situation for trade unionists in Iraq and the IFTU's hopes for the future.
IFTU representative Abdullah Muhsin interprets for Subhi Al Mashdani
Alex Gordon: Subhi, what are your first impressions of the welcome that you have received from the British labour movement?
Subhi Al Mashadani: I have felt enormous warmth from the British trade unionists that I met and I have felt that they were very happy to see us. This makes me feel happy because it reflects the real sense of solidarity that exists in the labour movement here.
AG: Can you tell us about some of the latest developments in the trade union movement in Iraq?
SAM: As you know, in the last year the IFTU has built 12 national trade unions and we are continuing to develop democratic structures in those unions. During June four of the IFTU’s constituent unions held their first open and free workers’ conferences in Baghdad.
The Metalworkers, Mechanics & Printers’ Union has elected a new 15 member Baghdad regional Committee and is planning its first national conference after July 1st. Some of its members are still employed in the public sector, for example the workers at the ‘Al Nassur’ (Victory) mouldings and car parts manufacturing plant. This factory was nationalised as part of Saddam Hussein’s militarisation of Iraqi industry. The Ministry of Industry now controls it and the wages are paid by the state.
The IFTU has fought for and won a minimum wage of 150,000 Iraqi Dinars (IrD) per month. We entered into negotiations with the Ministry at this and at other plants that they control, such as the paint manufacturing plant, where collective bargaining is still recognised. In the manufacturing sector, this union is really reconstituting itself out of the remains of the former General Federation of Trade Unions (the state-run ‘yellow union’ taken over by Saddam Hussein), but under a new democratically elected leadership.
AG: As a retired train driver and a life-long militant for the railway union in Iraq can you tell us about some of the difficulties faced currently by Iraqi railworkers?
SAM: The excellent developments in the last year with the creation of The Railworkers’ Union with an office at the Baghdad Central Railway Station still leave us with a lot of work to do. That is also true of the Iraqi railway industry, which is still only partially operational. Railworkers have had to work in conditions of extreme danger (including armed attacks on train drivers) just to keep traffic moving. Passenger traffic was suspended 3 months ago because passengers were being robbed on trains.
AG: What are the current wages and working conditions for Iraqi railworkers?
SAM: We have established a national minimum wage rate across IRR (Railways of the Iraqi Republic) from Mosul in the north to Basra in the South and forced it up from IrD 75,000 to IrD 125,000 per month due to the inflationary pressures in the past year. We have won the same rate of pay for men and women. Women comprise between 10-15% of the workforce in IRR working with computers and office administration as well as cleaners and also some engineers. Traditionally train drivers of passenger and goods trains received a bonus based on the mileage over which they worked and we have achieved a compensatory package paid to them due to the suspension of so much of the traffic.
Finally, we are very proud to have achieved a scheme in Baghdad and elsewhere for the IRR to provide safe transport from residential areas to their place of work for railworkers. This last was very difficult to achieve and also absolutely crucial because of the terrible security situation in Iraq and we had to threaten strike action in order to force the company to concede. The IFTU had tough negotiations with the IRR management.
AG: When we visited Baghdad last October railworkers told us that the fixed signalling system was completely non-existent and communication with train drivers was undertaken by 2-way radio. Is the union organising track and signalling workers?
SAM: There is still no functioning centralised signalling system. The 2-way radio signalling is dangerous and has caused numerous accidents and incidents such as derailments and collisions in both An Nasiriyah and Basra where one driver was killed and another injured three months ago. More recently other accidents have led to injuries near Helleh (Babylon). The IRR management structure is effectively based around 6 regions; Baghdad, Mosul, Samawha, Basra, Kirkuk and Ba’iji. At the moment the focus of their work is to concentrate on renovating the local infrastructure (stations, depots and railway yards). Now they have started to buy the desperately needed new trains to replace the Chinese and Russian locomotives. We have found that the best are the German locomotives, which can pull up to 2000 tonnes at 60-70 km/h and can withstand the very high operating temperatures in Iraq. The rolling stock and carriages of French construction, which we originally got from Algeria are being replaced with Canadian, French and German carriages.
AG: What steps is the IFTU taking to organise dockers?
SAM: Historically railway and dockworkers were crucial in building the trade unions in Iraq. Due to the fascist labour laws introduced by Saddam Hussein in 1987 we had to really rebuild the organisation of dockworkers. The former Port Director of Umm Qasr installed by the US firm Stevedoring Services of America (SSA) was a Ba’athist who was opposed to trade unions. He has now been removed. The delegation from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) which visited the port in February 2004 was confronted by a mass demonstration of dockworkers demanding union recognition.
Soon after the ICFTU visit the IFTU met with the new Port Director who was appointed by the Ministry of Transport and who says he is not opposed to trade unions, however we still do not have recognition. Nevertheless on the docks there are Workers’ Committees set up in defiance of the 1987 labour law. They operate openly and use the newsletter of the Basra Region of the IFTU. There are 6 such docks committees in the Iraqi ports. The minimum wage for dockworkers is currently only IrD 75,000 rising to IrD 100,000 after a year’s employment.
AG: What is the current position for Iraqi fire fighters wishing to join a trade union?
SAM: The Civil Defence Corps fire fighters are still controlled by the Ministry of the Interior and are not allowed to join a recognised trade union. However, in the oil industry fire fighters have formed independent workers’ committees within the Oil & Gas Workers’ Union. Of course the recent solidarity visit to Basra by Brian Joyce of the UK Fire Brigades Union was very important and raised the morale of the Iraqi fire fighters. What is necessary now is to separate the civil defence fire fighters from the police force. Oil refinery fire fighters get much better paid (10-15% more) than the civil defence fire fighters.
AG: Did the IFTU build a mass demonstration on May Day this year?
SAM: The IFTU had planned a big mass demonstration, however the deteriorating security situation made it too dangerous and difficult to demonstrate. Instead the IFTU booked the Iraqi National Theatre for a May Day celebration and 2500 people attended the event. In Basra the IFTU branch organised an open march from the trade union centre which 300 people took part in. There were also demonstrations in Helleh, Najaf, Amara and Kerbala.
AG: What message do you have for trade unionists in Britain and elsewhere?
SAM: We need your assistance in many ways. We need financial and other resources and we need the international labour movement to publicise the good things that the IFTU is achieving. We also need assistance to demand the repeal of the hideous 1987 Labour Laws of Saddam Hussein, to condemn terrorism and to support our demand for a return of full and real sovereignty to the Iraqi people