David Anderson MP Tables Common Motion in Defence of the Iraqi Workers Federation (IWF) and is supported by 66MPs
EDM 1689
IRAQI TRADE UNIONS 27.02.2006
Anderson, David 66 signatures
That this House supports the independent and democratic Iraqi trade
union movement, mainly centred around the newly merged Iraqi Workers'
Federation (IWF) and the Kurdish trade unions, which play an important
role in the re-building of Iraq's devastated national economy and
consolidating the current political process in order to create a
democratic, united and federal state after years of repression and
hardship at the hands of the deposed dictatorship of Saddam Hussein;
is, therefore, deeply disturbed that on 8th August 2005 the Iraqi
Council of Ministers issued decree 8750 which declared that union
finances would be taken over by the government and that a new law on
trade unionism would be developed by the government, without
mentioning freedom of association, which is a basic human right and
one of the fundamental conventions of the International Labour
Organisation (ILO), or the involvement of the Iraqi trade union
movement; is further disturbed at recent reports that the Iraqi
government has replaced the leadership of the independent engineers'
union with its own appointeees in a prima facie breach of freedom of
association; welcomes the decision of Iraqi professional organisations
to create jointly with the IWF an umbrella organisation to oppose
decree 8750; congratulates the TUC for initiating global protests
against decree 8750 and the International Confederation of Free Trade
Unions for supporting the IWF's complaint formally requesting that the
ILO intervene directly with the Iraqi government; and supports the IWF
and others in all available democratic means to stop this undemocratic
practice against Iraqi workers.
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