Iraq government reverses wage cut after strikes

http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?=1&cache=0&id=17042

Read more!

Baghdad electricity workers rally

Thousands of electricity workers took to the street on September 16, 2008 in Firdaws Square in Baghdad in a demonstration called and led by the General Federation of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq (GFWCUI), represented by Subhi Albadry, President of GFWCUI, and the Labor Movement Unifying Bureau, represented by Hassan Jumaa, president.
This event came as a result of the current situations as regards infrastructure (electricity that is given to people about one hour a day in particular). The workers came from different parts of Iraq to denounce the government's performance, especially that of the minister of electricity; the corruption and the neglect of this sector and its employees by the current government; as well as the banning of freedom of association.
Although the security forces were surrounding the area where the event took place, and prevented many other workers from joining the rally, the participants were able to voice their demands that were:
1. The dismissal of the Minister of Electricity Karim Wahid and his inner-circle
2. Bringing all corrupt officials and employees to justice
3. Hiring professional staff who are immune from sectarianism
4. The return of the political prisoners to their jobs
5. Giving the workers who are on contract a permanent position.
The Labor Movement Unifying Bureau consists of General Union of Oil Workers, General Union of Electricity Workers, the Union of Rail Workers and GFWCUI. It was formed in 2007, headed by Hassan Jumaa and his vice president Abuwatan, as a step towards unifying as many unions as possible to form a confederation that include all workers in Iraq.

Read more!

Demonstration: Hands off Kurdish asylum seekers!

the international federation of iraqi refugees and coalition to stop deportations to iraq are holding a joint lobby to protest at the uk home office’s continuing policy of forcible deportations to iraq.

lobby of the home office, 2 marsham st, london, westminster/st james’ park, thursday 11 september, 12.30 – 14.30

the families of hussein ali and muhammed hussein will be attending the lobby: hussein ali committed suicide days after being forcibly returned to kurdistan on 7 august. muhammad hussein died of cancer following six years of struggle to gain refugee status in the uk.

Read more!

Stop the execution of teacher unionist Farzad Kamangar

From Education International
Dear colleagues,

Farzad Kamangar, a 33-year old teacher and former trade unionist from the Kurdistan Province of Iran, is at risk of execution following the ruling issued at an unfair trial.

In recent weeks, EI has written to the Iranian Government to request a fair trial for Farzad Kamangar and other union activists who are under arrest. In spite of joint efforts from various national and international organisations to have death sentence of Farzad Kamangar communted, it was upheld by the Supreme Court on 11 July 2008. In addition, Iranian trade union colleagues and human rights activists who show solidarity with Farzad are being subjected to pervasive intimidation by the Iranian authorities.

The arrest, detention and condemnation of trade unionists because of their human and trade union activities are not only serious violations of trade union rights, but also create an atmosphere of fear prejudicial to trade union development in Iran.

Background Information

Farzad's story

On 25 February 2008, the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Farzad Kamangar to death on charges of "endangering national security" and "enmity against God" (moharebe). The death penalty was confirmed by the Supreme Court on 11 July. Click here to read more about Farzad.


Kamangar, who worked as a teacher in rural areas and was a human rights activist, is accused of being a terrorist through his alleged affiliation to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK. According to his lawyer, Khalil Bahramian, there is no evidence to justify the judgement that Kamangar has “endangered national security”. His lawyer, who was not permitted to defend him, says Farzad’s trial was not in accordance with article 168 of the Iranian Constitution: “Political and press offences will be tried openly and in the presence of a jury, in courts of justice.” In this case, only one judge reviewed the case within five minutes and the defendant was not allowed to speak.

A support committee composed of members of the Teacher Trade Association, former colleagues of Kamangar and human rights attorneys, including Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, was established on July 21, 2008 to defend the civil rights of Farzad Kamangar and to undertake legal actions to have his death sentence commuted. Following the first meeting of the Committee, three teachers were arrested and taken to the Intelligence Detention Centre in Sanandaj, in the Iranian province of Kurdistan. Two – Hassan Ghorbani and Kaveh Rostami– are still in detention, while the third, Ahmad Ghorbani, was released on bail after two weeks. Farzad’s supporters and their family members are regularly intimidated through phone calls by the Ministry of Intelligence and National Security.

In addition to opposing the death sentence, EI condemns the torture of Farzad Kamangar while in detention and the subsequent denial of medical treatment. When his family was last allowed to visit him in prison, his injuries were such that he was unable to walk. EI has urged the Iranian authorities to investigate the reports of torture and to ensure that, in future, no detainee is subject to torture or ill-treatment.

To date, EI has no affiliate in Iran. However EI has received an application for membership from the Iranian Teacher’ Trade Association and a representative of that organisation was invited as a guest to the last EI Congress in Berlin in 2007. Upon his return from the EI Congress, Mohammad Khaksari was harassed by the security forces. Mr Khaksari is also an active member of the ‘Committee to Save Farzad’ and he is among those who are being harassed by the Ministry of Intelligence.

Read more!

Against an attack on Iran

More than one hundred Israeli academicians and peace activists have signed the following declaration:

There is no military, political or moral justification to initiate war with Iran
A constant flow of information bears witness to the fact that the Israeli government is seriously considering attacking Iran, in order to disrupt its nuclear plans. We do not disregard irresponsible actions by the Iranian government - we also oppose atomic weapons in principle and support the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction from the region. However, it is clear that the main source of the immediate danger of a new, widespread war stems from the policies of the Israeli government and the flow of threats from it, backed by provocative military maneuvers.

After serious consideration, we reiterate our position that all the arguments for such an attack are without any security, political or moral justification. Israel might get caught up in an act of adventurism that could endanger our very existence, and this without any serious effort to exhaust the political and diplomatic alternatives to armed conflict.

We are not certain that such an attack will occur. But the very fact that it is being weighed as a reasonable option, makes it imperative that we warn and caution against the destructive results of an offensive strike against Iran.

Coordinating Group: Prof. Gadi Algazi; Judy Blanc; Prof. Rachel Giora; Prof. Anat Matar; Prof. Adi Ophir; Prof. Yoav Peled; Reuven Kaminer, Prof. Haggai Ram; Prof. Yehuda Shenhav; Prof. Oren Yiftachel.
Contact: reuven.kaminer@gmail.com
Tel: 972 2 6414632

Read more!

Appeal for funds to send Mohammad Hussain’s body home to be buried

The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR) is sorry to inform you that one of our comrades Mohammad Hussain died of cancer on Sunday 3rd August. Many of you will know Mohammad Hussain from Doncaster. He was a big man with a big heart. Mohammad was originally from Erbil in Northern Iraq. Mohammad has been a political campaigner all of his life. He was forced to leave Erbil and seek refuge in the UK March 2000, following threats from the Kurdish Democratic Party because of his political campaigning.

Unfortunately Mohammed became one of the many Iraqi Kurds caught up in the UK Home Office asylum system. But until the very end of his life, Mohammed never gave up on the fight to gain refugee status.

He was arrested and he was moved from Lindholme detention centre to Campsfield detention centre in Oxfordshire, to Tinsley House and then to Haslar. The Home Office tried to deport him on 14th May 2008 to Iraq via Royal Jordanian Airlines. 44 minutes before the plane was due to fly his solicitor and the campaign to defend him sucessfully stopped his deportation. While he was in the detention centre at Lindholme he was very stressed and suffered much pain. When he explained that he had a lump in his stomach which was getting bigger and harder he was given a mild painkiller, then sold a headache tablet by the detention centre ”doctor”. Mohammad died but did not get refugee status.

For the eight years Mohammad was in the UK he was a constant and fierce defender of refugee and human rights. Mohammad worked with many refugee charities and organisations. As well as being an active member of IFIR he was also treasurer of the Doncaster Focus Group (a co-ordinating group of refugee and migrant volunteers). He was an active member of the South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group and marched 40 miles in October 2008 from Sheffield to Lindholme to protest at conditions there. He was one of the best known and loved members of the Kurdish community in South Yorkshire. In the last weeks of his life, his bedside was crowded with friends and well-wishers.

Mohammad spent much of his life campaigning and helping other people. IFIR is now asking you to help him. Mohammad’s family want to take his body back to Iraq to be buried. Please help us to make this possible please donate online from csdiraq.com or send cheques to IFIR made out to :


ACCOUNT NAME : A GORAN MOHAMMED
account number: 81397680
sort code: 40/04/07



IFIR
PO.BOX1575,
ILFORD,
IG1 3BZ,
LONDON UK

Read more!

Iraq: Alarm at forced transfer of Basra union activists

Richard Norton-Taylor
The Guardian, Friday July 25 2008

Eight Iraqi trade union leaders have been forcibly transferred from
Basra to Baghdad, where their lives are said to be at risk for
opposing a planned law in which control over oil exploration and
production would be placed in foreign hands.

The men, members of the Iraq Federation of Oil Unions, IFOU, have been
moved to the capital apparently on the personal orders of Hussain
al-Shahristani, the Iraqi oil minister, under anti-union legislation
left over from Saddam Hussein's rule. Greg Muttitt, co-director of
Platform, the human rights, environment and oil industry watchdog,
described the men's transfer as "extremely disturbing". He met
Shahristani a month ago to protest against the move.

The Iraqi oil minister said the eight men were involved with the
militias and in criminal activities, such as smuggling. But Muttitt
said: "There is absolutely no substance in these extremely serious
allegations and he offered no evidence."

Even if there was such evidence, it should be a matter for the Iraqi
judicial authorities and the courts, he added.

British officials in Baghdad and Basra have investigated the affair,
said Kim Howells, the foreign minister. In a letter, he said Britain
wanted to repeal Saddam's "restrictive" union laws and said Anne
Clywd, the prime minister's special envoy on human rights, had
recently "emphasised the fundamental need for free and fair trade
unions in Iraq".

However, he added: "It appears that the government of Iraq is tackling
illegal trade union activities with the South Oil Company."

John Hilary, executive director of War on Want, said: "The Iraqi
Federation of Oil Unions has been leading the opposition to the
sell-off of Iraq's oil and these members are clearly being targeted
for their political actions. We believe the British government should
work for the safety of Iraqi trade unionists, not be complicit in
their persecution."

In a letter to Howells, he said: "We would also like you to state
whether the British government in any way condones the transfer of
trade unionists into dangerous areas as a method of "tackling their
activities, whether legal or illegal".

Hassan Juma'a Awad, an IFOU spokesman, claimed the transfer was
ordered by Shahristani himself. "Those activists, through their hard
work, are well known for fighting corruption and corrupt-ministry
gangs in the oil sector," he insisted, adding that the transfer
amounted to a "human rights crime".

Read more!

First International Labor Conference in Iraq

Message From the Preparatory Committee for the First International Labor Conference in Iraq

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the global struggle for workers’ rights, peace and justice:

Plans are underway to hold an International Labor Conference in Iraq in August 2008. We see this as an important and urgent step toward strengthening and unifying the labor movement in Iraq. Only through increased solidarity in Iraq, and with workers in the region and around the world can we hope to impact the fate not only of workers but of all Iraqis.

We call upon all unions and labor organizations around the world to support this conference morally and financially. Your expressions of solidarity with workers in Iraq in the past have given us a lifeline of hope. Your continued participation and support for this conference will buoy and strengthen the Iraqi labor movement. Only through unity can we hope to achieve democracy, freedom, security and prosperity.

Iraq's labor movement is a force for unifying our nation. A strong labor movement is also essential to the future of any democracy in Iraq. Labor unions transcend the sectarian conflict unleashed by the U.S.-led occupation. The invasion and occupation turned Iraq into an arena for settling international accounts and a base for exporting terrorism to the world. Workers represent the majority of Iraqis who do not have any interest in the ongoing terrorist violence. When sectarian gangs have attempted to transfer their conflicts into the ranks of workers, they have been rejected.

Iraq's labor unions are the glue that binds Iraqi people in the north, center and south. In some areas, the glue is strong, but in other areas of the country unions are isolated. Our goal with the August conference is to strengthen the ties between all worker organizations and focus on our common priorities. Those who feel isolated need to know that they have support from the international labor movement.

Iraqi workers need your support if we are to speak in one voice to reclaim our sovereignty.

Five years of invasion, war and occupation have brought nothing but death, destruction, misery and suffering to our people. Millions of Iraqis, the majority of them workers, have been killed, wounded and displaced inside and outside of Iraq as a result of the U.S.-led occupation.

In the name of our “liberation” the invaders have destroyed our nation's infrastructure, bombed our neighbourhoods, broken into our homes, traumatized our children, assaulted and arrested many of our family members and neighbours, permitted the looting of our national treasures, and turned nearly twenty percent of our people into refugees.

The occupation is determined to impose its economic and political will on Iraqis. The occupiers came with designs on our national riches - our oil - and schemes to privatize our industries, utilities, ports and public services and to put Iraq's national resources under the control of foreign corporations and international financial institutions.

All decisions, decrees and resolutions of the dictatorship have been nullified or changed except the ones that concern the working class. In fact, the occupation has added more unjust conditions to complement those created by the former regime.

In violation of every precept of internationally recognized labor rights, the occupation has banned trade unions in the public sector, privatized state-owned and run enterprises, intervened in workers’ affairs by proposing to recognize only one government-approved labor federation, and blocked any legislation that protects workers from poverty, disease and unjust employers. Our union offices have been raided. Union property has been seized and destroyed. Our bank accounts have been frozen.

In the last five years workers have been the target of terrorist acts in their workplaces and homes. Our leaders have been beaten, arrested, abducted and assassinated. Our rights as workers are routinely violated.

Now the U.S. administration attempts to provoke and threaten war with Iran. We condemn these actions and will struggle to prevent another disastrous war on Iran where the victims will always be the workers, their families and loved ones.

We believe that the workers of Iraq can form a strong front for social justice and peace if supported by our brothers and sisters in the region and around the world.

Please help us take a stand against this disastrous situation that will have catastrophic implications for the workers of Iraq and threatens the peace and security of the entire world.

We call on your support and ask for your presence at the conference.

We need your financial help to underwrite the high costs of this conference. We need to raise more than $150,000.

We want your participation. The conference will take place from August 22nd through to 24th, 2008 in the city of Erbil, a relatively stable area of Iraq in the north, in a secure location. Please let us know if your organization will send observers. Their safety can be assured.

In Solidarity

Read more!

Iraqi oil union under attack

The Iraqi Oil Minister, Hussein Al-Shahirstani, has ordered the transfer
of eight Oil Union activists. They used to work at the oil refineries in
the south. This act reflects the minister's anti-union policy, and lack
of respect for unions and union activists in the oil sector. Those
activists, through their hard work, are well known for fighting
corruption and corrupt-ministry gangs in the oil sector.

They have been transferred to Baghdad Al-Dorah neighborhood (known for
worsening security situation, and high level of sectarian killings). In
the context of Iraqi security situation, such a transfer is rightfully
regarded as human rights crime.

We call upon all people of good will in the world to take a stand to
denounce these despicable and criminal acts by the Iraqi Oil Ministry
against trade unions and their activists. The trade unions have been
reestablished and revitalized through the hard work of union activists
without any protection from the state, which keeps bragging about
democracy. [The Maliki government, taking its lead from the U.S.
Occupation Authority, continues to enforce the 1987 Saddam Hussein labor
code that prohibits unions and bargaining for workers in the oil sector
and all other public enterprises, which constitute 80% of all Iraqi jobs.]

This act is a clear evidence that the Iraqi state seeks to liquidate
trade unions in this important Iraqi economic sector, oil. It is
important to note that the south is the main source of oil in Iraq. The
oil sector there employs more than 39,000 workers. The Iraqi state has
no intention of allowing an Oil Trade Union in that sector because it
represents a threat to its authority.

We call upon you from all parts of the world to stand with us, for the
sake of labour and workers interests.

Respectfully,

Hassan Juma'a Awad, President
Iraq Federation of Oil Unions

Read more!

Attack and arrest of twelve Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane workers

According to reports received from Shush city, the workers of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company have once again begun demonstrating in front of the Governor General's office.

This morning a large number of workers went to the Governor General's office in Shush and began demonstrating. At present their number is growing by the minute. The protesting workers are chanting slogans like: "Incompetent Governor, resign, resign", "Police force, shame, shame", "Monthly pay is our absolute right", "A livelihood and a life are our absolute right", "The workers are prepared to die but won't accept hardship".

An hour ago the security forces and the special guard attacked the protesting workers in front of the Governor General's office in Shush. They arrested twelve workers and took them to an undisclosed location. They behaved in a barbaric way while arresting them. Right now the workers are present in the city and are determined to continue with their protests until their demands have been met.

The special guard, the police and security forces have once again begun patrolling the city in their vehicles and are trying to create an atmosphere of intimidation and fear by their manoeuvres.

From Iranian Workers' Solidarity Network

Read more!