David Bacon, t r u t h o u t, August 27, 2010 Early in the morning of July 21, police stormed the offices of the Iraqi Electrical Utility Workers Union in Basra, the poverty-stricken capital of Iraq's oil-rich south. A shamefaced officer told Hashmeya Muhsin, the first woman to head a national union in Iraq, that they'd come to carry out the orders of Electricity Minister Hussain al-Shahristani to shut the union down. As more police arrived, they took the membership records, the files documenting often-atrocious working conditions, the leaflets for demonstrations protesting Basra's agonizing power outages, the computers and the phones. ... Is

James Parks, AFL-CIO, August 20, 2010 As US combat troops head home from Iraq, new evidence shows there is much to be done before all Iraqis are truly free. In a letter to Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka strongly protests a recent government order that bans all trade union activities in the government-owned electrical industry. The order by Iraq’s minister of electricity prohibits ministry officials from dealing with unions and instructs them to take back all the benefits electrical unions have negotiated in recent years. ... AFL-CIO

US Labor Against the War, July 23, 2010 Police raided and shut down electricity unions across Iraq in mid-July, carrying out an order from the Minister of Electricity that could have been lifted from Saddam Hussein’s rule book. The order prohibits "all trade union activities at the ministry and its departments and sites" and authorizes the police "to close all trade union offices and bases and to take control of unions' assets properties and documents, furniture and computers." The Iraqi trade union movement is calling on trade union members and labor solidarity activists everywhere to raise their voices in protest. ... Minister

This draft has yet to be submitted to Parliament by the Prime Minister. General Federation of Iraqi Workers, June 2010 A team of ministerial experts, joined by ministry workers - both management and clerical - have been preparing a draft for the above-mentioned Law. They have had the advice and guidance of Ministry employees, headed by the Minister engineer Mahmood Al-Sheikh Radhi and his Deputies, in particular the project supervisor Senior Deputy Noori Muhsin Al-Hilfi. The most significant aspect of the reviewed and revised Draft defines the principals of the constitution, stating that work is the right of all Iraqis, and is essential for a happy and prosperous life. ... A

Hassan Juma'a, President, General Federation of Oil Unions in Iraq, June 2010 To the brothers and sisters in the General Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq: We congratulate you on the tireless and valuable efforts in leading the demonstration of general union of port workers in Iraq on Monday. In fact it is an honor for all workers in Basra. We support and praise the port workers and union leaders in demanding their rights in this vital sector. ... Iraq

Leaders Reassigned 1000 KM Away. Amjad Ali, North American Representative, General Federation of Workers Councils & Unions in Iraq, June 2010 A demonstration that began May 7 in Basra intensified today with new threats upon the workers and union leaders being relocated 1000 km from their jobs. In response to a call made by the leaders of the general union of harbor workers in Basra (an affiliate union with the General Federation of Worker Councils and Unions in Iraq) hundreds of employees of the Iraqi Harbor Corporation walked off the job on May 7, 2010, demanding better wages and living conditions. Immediately after being informed, Iraqi Harbor Corporation director sought aid from US troops ... US

Abdullah Muhsin, General Federation of Iraqi Workers, May 2020 Seven years after the fall of Saddam, Iraqi workers are long due their fundamental rights at work. Workers across Iraq have recently launched a campaign to finally overturn the repressive laws still in place, and to give them their fundamental rights at work. In the wake of the recent national elections, international support is urgently needed to press the new government to put in place a fair and just labour law. There are important ways you can give your support ... Iraqi

Michelle Chen, In These Times, April 16, 2010 The elections in Iraq in March brought unexpected twists in the country's chaotic political narrative, reflecting growing complexity in the electorate as well as the balkanized nature of Iraq's religious and ethnic landscape. Since no party won a decisive majority, it may be months before the new government takes shape, as members of Parliament hammer out tenuous coalitions. While myriad civil society movements had a stake in the election, notably absent from mainstream electoral battles was organized labor. Given the prominence of unions in US and European politics, activists might be wondering ... Post-Election

Labor Rights "Fundamental" To Iraqi Democracy.
Adam Wright, Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO, April 15, 2010

LabourStart, April 2010 After weeks of industrial action in the southern oil fields in Iraq, management are trying to prevent the Refinery Workers Union operating by sending four of its leaders to other workplaces. This is a standard management tactic in Iraq, and in the past has often meant sending union leaders to more hostile, violent areas of the country. But pressure from Iraqi trade unionists and trade unionists around the world has stopped this before, and we can do it again. Refinery workers held rolling sit-ins on 25-26 February, 2 and 18 March, followed by a large demonstration on 28 March calling for wage increases, fair payment of allowances owed to workers ... Stop

Let’s Make Every Day a March 8!
Organization for the Liberation of Women in Iraq, March 8, 2010

Iraqis will also speak at USLAW events in DC, NYC and Philadelphia.
US Labor Against the War, August 11, 2009

Among the international guests invited to attend the AFL-CIO national convention in Pittsburgh, September 13-17, will be leaders of six Iraqi labor federations. In addition to attending the convention, the Iraqi union leaders will appear at events organized by USLAW and its affiliates in Washington, DC, New York City, and Philadelphia.

One of their appearances at 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East in NYC will also be simulcast by closed circuit television to 1199 facilities in Buffalo, Syracruse, Boston, Rochester, Buffalo, Baltimore and possibly elsewhere.

International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine & General Workers' Unions, July 27, 2009 The ICEM has received information from the Federation of Workers Councils Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) that one of their leading women activists is under attack. The management of the General Company for Leather Industries (GCLI) has punished Sawsan Mahmoud, by transferring her to another company. The decision follows her leadership and participation in a strike at the beginning of April 2009, after protesting against the company's failure to make all outstanding payments due to workers in April. ... Iraqi

Hassan Hafidh, Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2009

Amman - The oil workers' union in the oil hub province of Basra in southern Iraq Monday demanded the government cancel the country's upcoming auction of contracts to develop oil fields.

"We are demanding Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki intervene personally to prevent the award of these contracts," said a statement issued by the union, a copy of which was e-mailed to Dow Jones Newswires.

Report from Baghdad & Basra. Iraqi unions celebrate May Day. May 1, 2009 Iraqi trade unions once famously celebrated May Day in 1959, with a million people on the streets of Baghdad to celebrate the fall of the monarchy. This year, 50 years later, the celebrations were smaller, but the trade union movement and the Iraqi Communist Party are rebuilding. Iraqi trade union movement international representative Abdullah Muhsin reports. ... May