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Iraqi government uses Saddam's laws against trade unions

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Iraqi government uses Saddam's laws against trade unions

The TUC has protested formally to the Iraqi Prime Minister over an internal oil ministry memo which urges managers to use Saddam Hussein's law banning public sector unions against workers in the oil industry. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber has also raised the matter with UK Ministers.

Here is Brendan Barber's letter to the Iraqi Prime Minister:

Nouri Kamel Mohammed Hassan al-Maliki
Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq
Office of the Prime Minister
Green Zone
Baghdad
03 August 2007

Dear Prime Minister al-Maliki

Denial of trade union rights in the oil sector

The British TUC, representing people at work in Britain through our 59 unions and their 6.5 million members, is shocked that your government is using laws introduced by Saddam Hussein to prevent workers in the oil industry (and throughout the public sector) from using their fundamental human right to join trade unions and use them to bargain collectively. I must ask you to make it clear that people working for the Iraqi government are free to join trade unions and that those unions are free to bargain with their employers, and I would also reiterate our call on you to repeal Saddam Hussein's labour laws and introduce long-delayed new labour laws in conformity with ILO core conventions.

We have been informed by our sister organisations in southern Iraq of instructions issued on 18 July by Laith abd al Hussein Shahir, legal advisor of the Iraqi Oil Ministry, to all oil companies instructing them not to deal with trade unions (or NGOs) that are not registered and are without legal documents. The memo indicates that the Minister had advised that it is forbidden for any union member to be part of any committee formed in the companies because the unions are not legitimate and are illegal in the public sector, and that they therefore have no right to use offices, vehicles or any other equipment. The memo orders the companies to take action accordingly.

Iraq has ratified ILO Convention 98 on the right to organise and collective bargaining and thus has international treaty obligations to promote voluntary collective bargaining between trade unions and employers. While Iraq has not yet ratified ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association and protection of the right to organise, it is bound simply by the fact of its membership of the ILO to uphold, respect and promote in good faith the principles of freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining enshrined in the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

The memo of 18 July does precisely the opposite, apparently relying on both Saddam Hussein's Decree 150 banning trade unions in the public sector and the more recent Decree 8750 which freezes trade union assets, while an ILO-compliant labour law, which we understand has been drafted, remains unimplemented.

These are matters of gravest concern to the British and international trade union movement. The promotion of free and democratic trade unionism and effective social dialogue are essential prerequisites for successful and peaceful reconstruction in Iraq. We urge you to act accordingly and to ensure that the instruction is withdrawn and replaced by the active encouragement of effective social dialogue in the oil sector.

Because of the seriousness of this issue, I am copying this letter to the British Foreign Secretary and will be making its contents public.

Yours sincerely

Brendan Barber signature
BRENDAN BARBER

General Secretary
cc: Rt Hon David Miliband MP, Secretary of Ste for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (FCO), Dr Kim Howells, Minister of State, FCO

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