Iraqi Labor Unions Grow And Claim Their Voice

[Itsthetruth]

San Francisco Chronicle
June 12, 2005

Iraqi unions claim their voice
by David Bacon

Baghdad -- For most Americans, the idea that Iraq has unions is a strange concept. We have become accustomed to seeing images of soldiers and bombs, while Iraq's working families have little visibility and are given little consideration in U.S. policy debates.

Yet Iraqi unions -- despite lacking legal status and often being the targets of the occupation on the one hand and terrorists on the other -- have begun winning better conditions for workers. Hundreds of thousands of workers have joined, according to Iraqi labor organizers, making unions the largest institution in Iraqi civil society.

Oil workers recently held a large congress in Basra to voice their opposition to privatizing oil, or selling it to transnational corporations at discounted prices. Oil income, they said, is needed to rebuild their country. Their union calls for keeping public assets in public hands. It also calls for an end to the occupation, and the withdrawal of U.S., British and other foreign troops. Today, Iraq has several union federations. They don't always agree on everything, but on these two points, they see eye-to-eye.

That makes it important to seek out the voices of Iraq's unions, its women's, professional and student organizations, and hear what they have to say. Their voice is missing in the debate over the future of their country.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/06/12/EDGOHD606T1.DTL

[bryant69]

1. Be interesting to see how we deal with this

My guess is that we are already accusing the unions of being communist.

Bryant
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