URGENT ACTION: End harassment of Iraqi oil union activists

The Iraqi government has stepped up its harassment of trade unionists in the oil sector. It has threatened 25 workers for engaging in a peaceful protest. And oil union leaders have been demoted, stripped of bonuses and reprimanded for doing nothing more than engaging in legitimate trade union activity.

Sign the labour start petition calling on the Iraqi government to end these attacks.

Brendan Barber TUC General Secretary wrote to the Iraqi Charges D'Affaires on 22 June 2012 protesting against this move:

'The TUC, its affiliated unions and their 6 million members strongly believe that Iraqi workers deserve to live and work in dignity and freedom. That is why we have supported the development of a free and independent trade union movement. But this is increasingly under threat.

...I was alarmed to learn that 25 workers from the Maysan Oil Company are being punished by the Ministry of Oil simply for holding a peaceful demonstration on 17 April 2011, which had even received prior government approval. These workers have also been told that their employment is at risk if they should engage in such activities again.

This is in addition to a series of recent cases of trade union leaders in the oil sector who have been demoted, stripped of bonuses and reprimanded for doing nothing more than engaging in legitimate trade union activity.

More generally, despite nearly a decade since the fall of Saddam Hussein, his repressive labour laws are still on the books. A draft labour law before the Parliament is arguably just as bad: it will prevent public sector workers from joining unions, and prevent more than one trade union structure being established.

I call on your government to end the harassment of trade unionists, especially in the oil sector, and finally pass a labour law in full compliance with the standards of the International Labour Organisation.'

Sign the labour start petition calling on the Iraqi government to end these attacks.

Background

Iraqi government agencies frequently interfere with internal union affairs, punishing union activists by imposing forced transfers, demotions, fines, travel restrictions, and other penalties allowed by Iraq's labour law, which dates from the Saddam Hussein regime, as well as the law governing state employees. The suppression of worker rights has been most severe in the oil sector, where the Oil Ministry has worked hand in hand with the oil companies to enforce these punishments.

This harsh approach is evident in the April 17, 2011, arrests of 26 workers at the Maysan Oil Company in southern Iraq who were peacefully demonstrating against corporate corruption. Even though they had received advance permission to hold their demonstration, a Ministry of Oil investigation led to the reprimand of eight workers and a warning to 18 others. All 26 were instructed that further actions would lead to greater penalties being applied against them. Individual letters sent by the company on December 13, 2011, essentially stated that the workers' livelihoods would be jeopardized if they continued to engage in such activity.

Additionally, Abdul Kareem Abdul Sada, vice president of the General Federation of Trade Unions and Workers' Councils of Iraq (GFTUWCI)-Basra Branch, received a reprimand and six-month suspension of his salary bonus, in accordance with recommendations made by investigative committee No. 1129 on January 11, 2012. Hassan Juma'a Awwad, president of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), received a three-year grade demotion; Adel Abood, a board member of the southern oil union of the IFOU and member of the IFOU assembly board, received multiple written reprimands; and Abdul Khaliq Naser, a member of the GFTUWCI Oil union, received a warning letter, based on the recommendations of the same investigative committee. All were accused of 'inciting unrest.'

For more information see ITUC annual survey of trade union rights: Iraq