Labor & Employment Law

U.S. Unionists Demand End of Saddam-era Labor Law in Iraq

By Mike Hall

When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, “we were told democracy would be built in Iraq” says Stan Gacek of the AFL-CIO’s International Affairs Department. But speaking at a rally today outside the Iraqi consulate in Washington D.C., Gacek added:

There won’t be democracy in Iraq until the workers’ right to organize is guaranteed.

Every law from the Saddam Hussein regime has been rewritten–except the 1987 labor law that abolished the freedom to collectively bargain, the right to strike and a guaranteed minimum wage. That is the labor law today’s Iraqi government is using to bust the country’s union movement. Workers have been fired, harassed, exiled and even killed for forming unions and taking job actions.

Some 75 marchers from the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center, Washington Metro DC Labor Council and several unions marched outside the consulate chanting,

Saddam’s old laws must be replaced. Union busting is a disgrace.

Jim Carrington from the International Confederation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), says while Colombia is the world’s most dangerous nation for trade unionists, “Iraq is not lagging far behind in killing workers.”

Last November, Majeed Sahib Kareem, a leader of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) was killed by a bomb attached to his car as he drove to the union hall. Carrington told the crowd that the Iraqi government is using a new method to silence union leaders–perhaps permanently–by taking advantage of the country’s deep sectarian differences.

Instead of sacking workers, they are sending them into exile to parts of the country where their lives are threatened.

In 2004, the Iraqi government signed an agreement that it would work with the International Labor Organization (ILO) to enact a new labor law that met international standards. It has yet to do so.

Gacek and Carrington both pledged continued strong support of the Iraqi workers and their struggle for basic labor freedoms. Erin Radford, program officer at the Solidarity Center wrote in a recent blog post:

The AFL-CIO has long supported Iraqi workers in their fight for basic workers’ rights and democracy at work. Last fall, the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center brought leaders from five Iraqi unions to Washington, D.C., to highlight their struggle with AFL-CIO leaders and U.S. government policymakers. The Iraqis also attended the AFL-CIO Convention in Pittsburgh, where the AFL-CIO passed its most recent resolutions on Iraq. The AFL-CIO strongly supports the Iraqi labor movement’s latest push for worker rights through this campaign.

You can take action by signing the International Call for a Fair and Just Labor Law.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on April 14, 2010 (boomark / email).