Tell Iraq's Oil Minister: 'STOP ATTACKING TRADE UNIONISTS'

WHEN: Tuesday June 17th
WHAT TIME: 9-11am

WHERE: outside the Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street Russell Square, LondonWC1

Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al Shahristani will be speaking at the 'Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone 2008' conference at SOAS.

The Minister recently decreed that eight prominent trade union activists from the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), plus four senior managers from the Southern oil Company in Basra be transferred from their workplaces in Basra to Baghdad and Nassiriyah.

These politically motivated transfers are the latest attack against trade unionists and other opponents of oil privatisation in Iraq.

The IFOU, which labelled the move 'a human rights crime', fears the transfers might have dangerous implications for the workers and their families, who face being uprooted from their communities and the prospect of moving to more violent areas where occupation forces and US-controlled militias are active.

Thanks to the struggle of the unions and people of Basra, and despite recent government attacks, the city has been relatively safe for trade unionists to be active.

The IFOU is on the frontline of opposition to oil privatisation.

Sharistani has repeatedly ordered the shutdown of union offices and facilities and de-recognition across the sector. Arrest warrants were issued against IFOU leaders last summer and Iraqi troops were sent into Basra's oil fields.

Other public sector unions such as the dock workers union in Um Qasr are also under attack, facing mass-lay-offs as part of the US and UK-backed privatisation drive in Iraq.

Trade unions are still illegal in Iraq - Saddam Hussein's Decree 150 of 1987 banning all unions in the public sector has been kept on the statue books by both occupation and Iraqi authorities for the past five years. Despite this, Iraqi unions have continued to organise and gained de-facto recognition due to their industrial and social strength.

Yet the attacks on Iraqi trade unionists are mounting - and they need our support.

Join us in echoing their demands in telling Sharistani to stop attacking trade unionists, recognise their demands, and stand up to the occupation's drive to impose long-term foreign control through the 'Oil Law' and mass privatisation.

Called for by Naftana, the UK Support Committee for the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions and Supported by Stop the War Coalition and the Hands Off Iraqi Oil campaign.

See www.naftana.org and www.basraoilunion.org for info

More news fromt the front line. Or is it their home front, I don't know

Leader of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions Hassan Jumaa Awad has sent the following message urging action against the decision of the Iraqi Oil Minister to transfer 8 union activists - a move which has been defined as 'a human rights crime'. This marks an escalation in repression against the Union which is a potent anti-occupation and anti privatisation force in Iraq This comes at a time when serious military, economic and political pressure is being exerted by occupying powers for the ratification of the Oil Law. More moves such as this can be expected and must therefore be resisted now.

US Labor Against War have written a model letter (see below) UK embassy details are below and a press release from Naftana, the UK
support committee for the union in the UK is to follow soon. Please fwd this email and contact your union branches and local anti war groups to pass urgent motions of solidarity.
Copies of emails sent to the embassy and of support for the union in the UK should be sent to
naftana@naftana.org

From Hassan Jumaa Awad:

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 labor and workers interests.

Respectfully,

Hassan Juma Awad, President
Iraq Federation of Oil Unions

Draft letter by US Labor Against War:

UK Embassy

E-mail: lonemb@iraqmofamail.net
Telephone: +44 207 602 8456
Fax: +44 207 371 1652

FAO IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO THE UK

Mr. Ambassador:

We have been informed that Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Al-Shahirstani has
ordered the transfer of eight leaders and activists of the Iraq
Federation of Oil Unions from their long-standing assignments at the
South Oil Company in Basra to work in the Al-Dorah neighborhood of
Baghdad, known for its worsening security situation and high level of
sectarian killings. In doing so, the Minister knowingly exposes these
trade unionists to a heightened risk of injury or even death. As such,
this decision constitutes a grave violation of these workers' human
rights, as well as an assault on their labor rights and the rights of
all those workers who they represent in their capacity as IFOU leaders.

This action escalates the Iraqi government's continuing, repeated and
blatant violations of internationally recognized labor rights as
enshrined in the Conventions of the International Labour Organization of
the United Nations, including those to which Iraq is a signatory. Iraq
continues to enforce the dictatorship era labor codes that ban unions
and collective bargaining for public sector and public enterprise
employees in clear violation of ILO conventions. Iraq has failed to
adopt a basic labor law (as called for by its own Constitution) to
protect the rights of all workers to free association, to form unions of
their own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of their
labor, and to strike when necessary in defense of their interests.

We soundly and most strongly condemn these gross violations of labor and
human rights. No democracy can ever be established in Iraq unless and
until its workers enjoy the full range of core labor rights recognized
by the ILO. No democracy can ever be sustained in Iraq without its
workers and their unions being free of government intervention in their
internal affairs.

Iraq must completely erase all vestiges of its authoritarian and
repressive past if it is to earn the respect of the world community. We
demand that your government immediately rescind the transfer order for
these workers, cease harassing unions and union activists, and that it
recognize and respect the rights of all Iraqi workers to form unions of
their own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of their
employment, and to act collectively in defense of their own interests.

We intend to monitor this situation closely to learn what actions you
have taken to remedy these gross violations of labor and human rights.

Yours truly,