Address to the Association of University Teachers (AUT):
"The Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) is proud to accept your invitation to address the Annual Conference of the AUT - it is great honour to address you today.
"The AUT is known and respected by Iraqi academics and trade unionists. It is therefore a great pleasure for me as a representative of Iraqi workers to openly renew our friendship with your union through our trade union federation the IFTU and on behalf of the Iraqi Teachers’ Union (ITU) that now organises legally in post-Saddam Iraq.
"The principled position that the AUT took against the war and the occupation of our country and now your call for the return of sovereignty to Iraqis is highly appreciated by the IFTU and the ITU.
"In my talk I want to deal with the way in which trade unions have survived through the dark years of fascist-style rule in Iraq, how they have taken off in the last two years and how we can work together in the future.
"I have been living in exile from my country for over a quarter of a century. Alongside many others I was forced to flee after Saddam Hussein assumed total political power in 1978 and initiated a campaign of terror against all independent trade unions, students’ and women’s organisations. He modelled the Iraqi state and government explicitly on fascist lines in which all aspects of civil society became fronts for Saddam’s project (the veneration of the dictator and a transmission belt from the regime to Iraqi society) and thus part of the state apparatus of terror.
"Independent trade unions leaders were executed or imprisoned in a systematic campaign of repression waged by the regime against democratic forces in the late 1970s. In short, the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) became a tool of control for Saddam’s totalitarian state. It spied on workers and its offices became centres of interrogation and torture. The very term ‘trade union’‚ became associated with oppression for many Iraqis. A leading member of Saddam’s 'yellow unions' was a close collaborator of ‘Chemical Ali’, the monster who gassed the Kurds at Halabja, as well as the Marsh Arabs, Iranian soldiers and many thousands of Iraqi democrats including communists. And, when Saddam launched his war against Iran from 1980 to 1988 and his invasion of Kuwait in 1990 the GFTU acted as Saddam’s recruiting sergeants.
"On 11 March 1987, Saddam’s regime introduced a new Labour Code, which redefined public sector workers as ‘state officers’ and removed their right to form independent trade unions or take strike action.
"As a reaction to this political repression and to the violation of workers’ rights to form or join real trade unions, an illegal underground trade union movement was formed by those Iraqi trade unionists who had fought for the right to establish independent labour organisations during the 1930s, 40s and 50s and who refused to accept the emasculation of the working class by the Ba’ath regime. Formed inside Iraq in 1980, the Workers Democratic Trade Union Movement (WDTUM) existed throughout the 23 years of rule of Saddam’s Ba’ath party. The WDTUM was composed of trade unionists, intellectuals, liberals and communists, and women, youth and students’ advocates.
"It was the WDTUM that took the initiative to organise the open meeting of Iraqi trade unionists in Baghdad on 16 May 2003, after the collapse of Saddam's regime. This first open trade union meeting since the 1970s was attended by over 350 Iraqi trade unionists. It was at this meeting that the IFTU was formed.
"Despite the enormous difficulties caused by the terrible security situation, the scourge of terrorism, a military and economic occupation that is both brutal and incompetent, massive levels of unemployment and a society shattered by Saddam, sanctions and war, free trade unionism is growing fast in this more fertile political climate. The IFTU now represents 13 individual national unions and has a membership of more than 200,000. The new independent Iraqi Teachers Union, which had its first open national conference on 23 August 2003, works closely with the IFTU. We all work together for a federal, democratic and secular Iraq. Mr Mahdy Ali Lafta, a leader of the Teachers' Union in Baghdad has just concluded a successful week-long visit to the UK, during which he was a guest of the National Association of School Masters/Union Women Teachers (NASUWT) at their national conference from 27 March-1 April in Brighton and the TUC.
"I also specifically want to mention the very important public solidarity shown by the IFTU towards Iraqi students. On Monday 22 March the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) Basrah branch organised a public demonstration in one of Basrah's main streets in support of the Iraqi students from the Engineering faculty of Basrah University who were the victims of a horrific and barbaric attack by religious zealots in a park in the city a week earlier while holding a mixed picnic with boys and girls.
"The IFTU Basra branch supports students as they struggle to build civil society. The IFTU marched in Basrah in support of the students believing that it is important to publicly demonstrate that the condemnation of the savage attacks comes not only from young people, but from workers in Basrah. The IFTU has clearly stated to the population of Basrah, to the Iraqi civil and political authorities and to the outside world that the legitimate trade union movement of Iraq stands shoulder to shoulder with the students in their demands for full civil and political rights, that the perpetrators of these brutal acts must be punished, for the abolition of "the Committees for University Security and Protection" established by some Islamic political parties on university campuses and that offices of political parties should be removed from the colleges.
"The IFTU supports a democratic Iraq and opposes any political or social repression reminiscent of the movement of the Taliban.
The Iraqi Teachers’ Union
"The history of labour and student organisation in the education sector in Iraq goes back to the birth of our country. Iraq’s first ever strike movement in 1927 was led by school students: Anis an-Nusuli, a Baghdad Secondary School teacher published a book incurring the wrath of Shi’i clergy. Three teachers protesting against clerical interference in education criticised the Education Minister’s "bigoted" attitude and the "disaster to freedom of thought" and were sacked. The same day 600 Sunni and Shi’i students led angry street demonstrations and signed a manifesto explaining that they "in no way intended to injure the religious susceptibilities of the various sects but [sought] to preserve the right of freedom of thought." The school re-opened after ten days only when all teachers and students were re-instated.
"After the fall of Saddam on April 2003, a group of teachers sought to form an independent, democratic and free union, and thus a preparatory committee (PC) was formed. The preparatory committee visited schools and universities and met with many teachers. An open statement was published by the preparatory committee on May 1, 2003 calling on teachers to co-operate together to rebuild an independent Teachers’ Union and a genuine education sector in Iraq. The statement was sent out to a large number of schools and universities in Baghdad and other Iraqi governorates and was published in various national and local newspapers and newspaper affiliated to various political parties.
"Committees were established in Baghdad and throughout Iraq after holding an open conference for Baghdad teachers in July 2003 at which two executive committees were elected, one for Al-Risafa and one for Al-Kharkh, the two main University districts of Baghdad. The first national conference was held on 23 August 2003 and openly elected a leadership for three years. Next June or July the union should hold its second conference.
"Iraq has about half a million teachers and more than half of them are now belong to the union.
"Membership is voluntary and is open to all those working in the education sectors from nursery teacher to university professors. Membership fee is $1 a year.
"The union campaigns on many fronts:
* We negotiate with government to reinstate teachers who were dismissed by the former regime and those who resigned because of economic hardship and threats. To this end over 30,000 teachers have been returned to their jobs from which they were fired or resigned due to the enormous ideological priority that Saddam Hussein put on ensuring the loyalty of teachers to the Ba’athist version of history and culture;
* We need smaller class sizes of between 25-30 to avoid stress for teachers and for the students. Schools need to be properly equipped with decently sized rooms and be healthy places to work and learn in.
* Earnings have improved since the fall of Saddam but most teachers don't have secure homes. As a result of negotiations and continuous pressure, teachers’ salaries have increased from the equivalent of $3 under Saddam to a range between $200 for elementary school teacher and $400 to $500 for a University teacher a month. Teachers often have to spend two-thirds of their salary on rent. Ironically, the union has plenty of land but no money to develop homes. In Baghdad the Iraqi Teachers’ Union is seeking to build 4,000 homes if it can raise the money.
* We campaign along side the IFTU and our sisters and brothers in the Kurdish labour syndicate for a labour code to be incorporated in the new Iraqi Constitution that guarantees our rights to organise freely, to join or form a trade union, to take strike action and to enjoy trade union representation;
* But we also campaign to be actively involved in rebuilding of civil society and ultimately Democracy in Iraq, together with other social movements such as those campaigning for women’s rights in society, the workplace and particularly women’s and girls ability to access all levels of the education system. We also seek to increase role of women members at all levels, including the national leadership level within our union in the belief that this will ensure the strong foundations for the Teachers’ union in wider civil society;
* We seek co-operation with Arab, regional and international labour movements and also to seek their help to equip Iraqi working people with new skills and knowledge.
* But we can’t build on the modest success of Iraq workers within the IFTU and teachers within our union unless we have a secure, stable and democratic environment that is why our union is also concerned with the overall political situation in Iraq.
"We want to see the UN and world community honour its pledge and thus allow full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1546. This will allow Iraq to develop a democratic and federal and united Iraq.
"Our new priorities are to keep Iraq intact (the risks of Iraq descending into civil war are still real), to build a strong independent and democratic trade union movement and to create a federal democratic and fully sovereign Iraq.
"The Iraqi election on 30 January represented an historic breakthrough. 60 per cent of Iraq's population, 8.5 million people went to the polls to elect a 275-member Transitional Assembly. Without intimidation, elections irregularities and incompetence, we would have seen an even higher turnout.
"But the bland expression ‘went to the polls’‚ hardly captures what happened on January 30 2005. Even as lines of voters were being blown up by homicide bombers from the so-called ‘resistance’‚ they cast their ballots. One family saw their son blown up, did their duty to his body in the morning and then insisted they vote in the afternoon in honour of his memory. These are the martyrs of the new Iraqi democracy. January 30 2005 was a triumph of democracy and the human spirit and humanity.
"Of course, the shadow of Saddam’s brutal dictatorship is long. Iraq has not been transformed overnight. And now, after decades of repression, sanctions and war, we are now facing a terrorist network that actually targets trade unionists.
"A railway worker beheaded, his head placed on his stomach and prominently displayed. My friend and colleague, Hadi Saleh, the IFTU's International Secretary, tortured and murdered, horribly, by remnants of Saddam's secret police. Rocket-propelled grenades fired at trade union headquarters. The international labour movement has risen as one to condemn the killing of Hadi and to extend the hand of solidarity to the IFTU. If Hadi had survived he would have been vindicated by the tremendous turnout at the elections.
"This election has enabled Iraqis to move forward. Already the terrorists and ex-Saddam loyalists are in retreat. The great majority of Iraqis are battling for a new democratic, federal and united Iraq, governed by a secular constitution and the rule of law, parliamentary democracy and a proper separation of powers between the legislature, the executive and an independent judiciary. A new police force and army that are culturally different from Saddam's repressive apparatus are being trained and will be ready soon. They played a crucial role in providing security during the 30th January elections and should be commended.
"But the process of building new Iraqi security forces is slow. They are insufficiently trained and remain small in size. As yet they are incapable of taking full responsibility for securing Iraqi large borders and protecting civilians and maintaining law and order. It is vital that efforts are redoubled until Iraq has security forces able to defend the country and the civilians. These forces must be beholden to no political party or individual but loyal only to the Iraqi constitution and its people.
"The political key to defeating sectarian violence is to develop a secular constitution that accommodates the aspirations of all Iraqis, including the Iraqi Kurds, for autonomy within a federal structure.
"Will Islam be the main source for the new constitution? Compromise must be reached here. Iraq has many other religious communities and discrimination against non-Muslims would be unjust.
"The success of Iraqi nation-building also lies with the growth of civil society. Genuine democracy cannot be imposed from above but must be built from below, through a strong social movement composed of free political parties, non-governmental organisations, environmental agencies and free unions."
Posted at April 27, 2005 03:08 PM