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