http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Global-Action/AFL-CIO-Urges-U.S.-Government-to-Use-New-TIFA-to-Address-Worker-Rights-Abuses-in-Iraq#.UT4XzN7L7TQ.facebook

Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions deplores provocative actions carried out by the Oil Ministry against oil workers. Oil workers demonstrated peacefully and in line with Iraq’s democratic constitution, to demand their legitimate rights.  

Instead of responding to workers demands positively, the ministry has vowed to punish leaders and activists (please see names below) who have demonstrated to demand their rights.

1-      Nizar Shakir Abdul-Hassan 2- Abdul Karim Abdul Sada 3- Mansi Abdul Nabi 4- Abdullah Kazim 5- Mohammed Khalil Jaber and 7 -Alaa Abdel-Rahman 8 -Aqeel Salim Kazim

2-      The IFOU deplores and condemns this act; calls upon international trade unions movement to stand in our support.

 IFOU

Please see the full IFOU Arabic statement on the GFIW Arabic page

Appeal for Urgent Action

To Release Iraqi intellectual and thinker, Mr. Ahmed

Al-Qubbanji, arrested by Iranian authorities

To: 

We are very concerned for the fate of the Iraqi intellectual and thinker, Mr. Ahmed al-Qubbanji, who was arrested by the Iranian authorities in the city of Qom on 17th February 2013. The reasons for his arrest are unknown. Our concern about his fate is mounting because of the circumstances of his arrest and their ambiguity. We are extremely worried that he could be exposed to ill-treatment and that his life is threatened, especially because the Iranian authorities have until now neither revealed his whereabouts nor stated the charges against him.

We look forward to your solidarity and urgent action, based on your humanitarian responsibilities and moral obligations, as dictated by human conscience and your commitment to international law and international conventions and norms, which stipulate respect for human rights and ensuring freedom and human dignity. We call for immediate action to ensure the safe return of Mr. Ahmed Al-Qubbanji to his country, Iraq. We also appeal to you to act speedily to find out about his needs and to ensure that his full rights are protected.

Please accept our respect and appreciation for your efforts and human conscience.
 
The undersigned: 

10. Popular Action Organization (PAO)

11. Time Centre for Youth Development

12. Iraqi Society for Sport Development 

13. Workers Cultural Centre

14. Iraqi Society for Pensioners

15. Iraqi Women’s League

16. The General Union of Students

The League of Iraqi Students

The National Union of Iraqis Journalists), Condemned the arbitrary detention of French journalist in Baghdad Nader Dndon who works for Le Monde Diplomatique). The Union called on Iraqi authorities to charge him formally or release him immediately. The NUIJ called on Iraqi security forces to “respect” the Constitution of Iraq and stop mudding the

It is worth reporting here that reporters without borders and Iraqi Press Freedom Observatory wrote to the Iraqi PM calling on him to intervene and secure the release of the French Journalist.

Please see the GFIW Arabic page for the NUIJ and reporters without borders statement

النقابة الوطنية للصحفيين العراقيينA new  Journalists union was formed in Iraq. It is called the NUJ

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) held its founding conference in Baghdad on 25 January 2013. The Conference approved the union internal rules.
The conference was attended by a large number of journalists, guests and parliamentarians, politicians and representatives of civil society organizations.

Abdul-ilah Al Nasraoui General Secretary of the Arab Socialist Movement met a delegation from the new independent General Federation of Iraqi workers (GFIW). Mr Al Nasraoui listened to presentation provided by the GFIW delegation on current trade union violations including constant governmental interferences in the internal affairs of the GFIW and its affiliated unions.

Mr Al Nasraoui assured the GFIW delegation by confirming his and that of his party support for the trade union movement in Iraq. He said the trade union movement is a key segment of Iraqi society and it plays vital national role. Mr Al Nasraoui urged the GFIW delegation to increase its work and contacts with grass root workers at both workplaces in order to defend working people interest. Mr Al Nasraoui encouraged the GFIW delegation to expand its circle of solidarity and urge them to contact Iraqi MPs, civil society organizations and wider political forces to explain the GFIW difficulties and seek solidarity support in order to put an end to the Ministry of Labour interferences in the internal affairs of the unions.     

AM

29 August 2012, the Parliamentary Commission on Oil and Gas reported initial agreement between the presidencies of the Council of Ministers and Parliament on the 2007 draft law. The draft shall be tabled before Iraqi parliamentarians for approval.

It is worth noting that between 2007 and 2011 three draft bills were proposed. The first was drafted in 2007 but failed to secure parliamentary consensus. The second draft was presented by the Parliamentary Commission of Oil and Energy. The third draft was compiled in 2011 by the current Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs Hussain al-Shahristani.

None of the above three drafts secured overall parliamentary consensus.  

In the absence of such law regulating oil and gas affairs, Iraq’s energy industry ( oil and gas) became subject of sever political disagreement between the federal government and the Regional Government of Kurdistan/Iraq. This in turn fueled further political and economic insecurity.

 It seems, however,  finally the three Iraqi parliamentary governing blocks have reached a consensus to adopt the much waited energy law to energies Iraq’s failing economy and help to stablise national political situation .

The NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union, has been deeply disturbed to hear of a savage attack on trade union activists in Baghdad as part of an ongoing campaign of intimidation against the country’s trade unions.

Armed men stormed the offices of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) in the capital, assaulting activists and members of the leadership of the union. 

They also smashed offices and equipment of the unions that represent construction workers, mechanics and printers, before forcibly removing activists and staff from the building, who faced a barrage of abuse and physical threats.

NASUWT General Secretary Chris Keates said: 

“The NASUWT deplores this cowardly attack which is an attack on the rights of trade unions to organise freely and stand up for the rights of ordinary working people.

“I call on the authorities to use all legal means to bring those responsible to justice.

“We will be making strong representations to the Government on this matter. It is important for the international community to show solidarity and to continue to intensify the campaign for democracy and free speech in Iraq.” to see the statement please click here: http://www.nasuwt.org.uk/Whatsnew/NASUWTNews/PressReleases/NASUWT_009683

Joint Statement

Iraqi Trade Unions in Basra Denounce Sham Elections

Four Iraqi workers federations and their unions in Basra (please see signatures below) have met today to state their official position regarding the sham workers elections conducted by the so-called “Preparatory Committee” set up by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. This “Preparatory Committee”  has invited a group of individuals – less than a dozen -, who have no trade union affiliations, to a meeting behind closed doors to hatch a conspiracy – through fake elections – to appoint an Executive Bureau for the trade union body, the General Federation of Workers (GFIW) in Basra.

In view of this, our meeting condemns this opportunistic move which has been endorsed and certainly blessed by the Government. The meeting reports the following:

The “Preparatory Committee” has falsified elections by inviting few individuals with no trade union credentials instead of the current GFIW executive of Basra.
This process is a means to delude working people that the GFIW is the only trade union structure in Iraq. It stands against the democracy which this group boasts about and is opposed to trade union pluralism.
The undersigned unions and federations in Basra, in defence of the trade union right to organize and to ensure pluralism for the trade union movement, therefore declare:

1-        The meeting condemns the establishment of the official “preparatory committee” which has interfered blatantly in the internal affairs of unions and put obstacles to impede the free formation of trade union organizations, which is a clear violation of international conventions such as Convention No. 87 (1948).

2-        The meeting condemns Government interference in the affairs of the unions and condemns those who are working – with government blessing and protection – to sabotage the work of free and democratic trade unionism.  An example of this is the interference by the above-mentioned infamous “Preparatory Committee”.

3-        The meeting condemns the Government use of the notorious anti-union laws and decrees, such as Law No.150 of 1987, that constrain and inhibit trade union activities in key active Iraqi sectors and deny trade union freedoms. 

4-        The meeting deplores the decrees that were issued by the Governing Council, such as Decree No.3 of 2004, that were aimed at impeding the development of the workers movement and its trade union organizations.

We also demand:

1-     That the Government respects its responsibilities with regard to trade unionist freedoms, especially the rights to form and join unions in both the private and public sectors, and the right to free assembly and demonstration. The meeting would like to remind the Government of its responsibility to respect its international obligations toward international conventions such as Convention No.87 and No.98 of 1948.

2-     That the Government stops the blatant interferences by dominant political parties and militias in order to politicize trade unionism and their attempts to dominate it.

3-     The abolishment of the decisions made by the Governing Council and the occupation government which impede trade union work deflects it away from defeding workers’ interests.  We also demand that the Government refrains from using the anti-union laws decreed by the former regime against the labour movement and its organizations in Iraq.

4-     Speeding up the process for the enactment of a fair and just Labour Law that respects workers rights and guarantees the freedom of trade union organization, assembly and demonstration and to strike, and preventing Government interferences and the government-backed domination of political parties.

5-     The involvement of all workers federations and unions in Iraq without exception in any discussion relating to the Labour Law, whether being prepared by the Government or in Parliament, in order to ensure that workers views are heard and to guarantee the rights of workers to organize themselves. 

Based on the outcome of the meeting and as a result of trade union solidarity and coordination among the federations and unions present, it has been decided to form a Coordinating Committee for trade union work in Basra, from the participants in this meeting.

Long live Iraq

Long live the trade union movement in Iraq

Signatories:

General Federation of Iraqi Workers in Basra (GFIW)

General Federation of trade Unions and Workers Councils in Basra

Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU)

Union of Engineering Professionals in Southern Electricity Sector 

Friday 22 June 2012

1 March 2012: The ITUC is calling on the Egyptian authorities to withdraw all charges and annul the sentence of 26 February against Kamal Abbas, the general coordinator of CTUWS.

According to the information received by the ITUC, a Misdemeanor court in the city of Helwan sentenced Kamal Abbas, in absentia, to six months imprisonment for “insulting a public officer” during the 2011 International Labour Conference in Geneva. The sentence refers to Thursday 9 June 2011, when Kamal Abbas interrupted Ismael Fahmy while he was delivering a speech to the Conference. For more information please see the ITUC report here: http://www.ituc-csi.org/egypt-ituc-call-to-drop-all.html