Polish-British activist Ewa Jasiewicz, who has just returned to the UK after spending over nine months in Iraq, is speaking round the country on the new workers' movement in that country. The following is a short extract from a report by her on the emerging trade union movement.
Immediately following the fall of the dictatorship, activists from the Iraqi Democratic Trade Union Movement (a highly respected underground workers' organization active since 1980) established the Federation of Iraqi Trade Unions, the biggest and most authoritative network of trade unions in Iraq. These unions organise in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Wasset, Dyla, Kurbala, Al Najif, Babel and Mesan.
Elections for the Federation's leaders took place in May 2003, at a conference attended by approximately 120 worker activists. Ten representatives and the Chairman of the Federation were elected. Of the ten representatives, all are Communist Party members. The elected term is four years with no re-election.
The Federation's chairman, Hussein Fadhil Hassan, said the biggest obstacles to organizing were:
- llegality: resulting in a lack of confidence by the Federation and workers and no means to force managers or the CPA to listen to their demands.
- Repression: In Baghdad on 10 December 2003, US troops raided and trashed the Federation's headquarters and arrested ten leaders who were held overnight and released without charge or explanation. In Basra, during September 2003's fuel price hike demonstrations, troops seized Samir Hanoon, who was acting as negotiator for the demonstrating crowd, and bundled him into a jeep, The crowd later de-arrested him but his ID has yet to be returned.
- Distrust of unions following past trauma at the hands of Ba'athist unions
- Lack of funds to buy essential computer and communications equipment
- No knowledge of their rights as enshrined in ILO conventions. No one had ever even seen an ILO Convention, despite being aware of the organisation, before Occupation Watch began working through key conventions in Arabic with Federation leaders.
- The unemployment crisis. Foreign companies and subcontractors working on reconstruction were ignoring Iraqi workers and giving jobs to foreign labor.
In November 2003 the Basra Federation issued a statement to the local authorities declaring that if any trade unionists were victimised or targeted, then every trade union would take action, including striking, to support them. Unions such as the Southern Oil Company union, an important recent affiliate to the Federation were not consulted on this statement. SOC trade unionists agreed with the policy, but stated that this pointed to the need for more Federation meetings, collective decision-making and information sharing.
However, the Federation's power within the labour movement is not monolithic.
