Iraqi trade unions

IFTU puts its case

The Alternet website has published an interview with Abdullah Muhsin of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions in which he replies to the charges that the IFTU are "quislings".

Giuliana Sgrena on Iraq's new trade unions

An article on Iraq's new trade unions by Giuliana Sgrena, the Italian journalist kidnapped by a "resistance" gang, eventually released, and then shot by American troops on her way to the airport. It was written shortly before she was kidnapped, and is translated from Il Manifesto. “$100 unemployment benefit now.” This is the demand that the Union of the Unemployed in Iraq (UUI) has been placing on the new Interim Government these last weeks since the “transition of power.” This is not to say, however, that the UUI has any illusion in the abilities of the new government. The slogan appears on a...

Workers' conference in Baghdad

The Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions of Iraq (FWCUI) — a union federation in which the Worker-communist Party of Iraq is influential — is calling a workers’ conference in Baghdad on 2 April. In Britain, No Sweat has helped organise fundraising events to support this conference. At the same time, however, FWCUI and WCPI leaders have launched an initiative called the Iraqi Freedom Congress (IFC), supposed to unite “all free-minded individuals, progressive organisations, and institutions worldwide” which share the aim of “establishing a free, secular, and non-ethnic government in Iraq”...

Deadlock in Baghdad

Two months after the 30 January elections in Iraq, there is still no new government, despite repeated announcements by the Shia and Kurdish alliances which came out top in those elections that they are about to finalise an agreement. The elected assembly has met briefly, on 16 March and 29 March, but made no decisions. The Shia alliance has reportedly agreed to the Kurds’ demands to stick with the US-drafted interim constitution (“Transitional Administrative Law”), and both groups have agreed to Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan being president and Ibrahim al-Jaafari of the...

When the "left" campaigns against the workers' movement...

Respect and the SWP in Cambridge have launched a veritable campaign against any support for the Iraqi workers' movement and for Iraqi trade unionists facing murder threats. By Stan Crooke At the March meeting of Cambridge Trades Council I moved the following motion on behalf of my Amicus branch: “1) Cambridge and District Trades Union Council welcomes: a) the conference organised by the TUC on 14th February in support of Iraqi trade unions, attended by representatives of the Iraqi Railway and Aviation Union (IFTU), the Journalists Union, the Teachers Union, the Federation of Workers Councils...

Support Iraqi women’s movement

No Sweat and the National Union of Students’ Women’s Campaign have organised a speaker tour around International Women’s Day to promote solidarity with the Iraqi women’s movement. The main speaker will be Houzan Mahmoud, UK rep of the Organisation for Women’s Freedom in Iraq. Monday 7 March, 7pm, Latimer Room, Clare College, Cambridge. Details: Jo, 01223 356454. Tuesday 8 March, 1pm, Sussex University. Details: Clare, 07779 251478. Tuesday 8 March, evening, Khalil Lecture Theatre, School of Oriental and African Studies, London. “Women workers of the world, unite!” Includes speakers from Iran...

Strike wave in Iraq: Harassed labour movement raises its head

Falah Alwan , president of the Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions of Iraq, spoke to Solidarity when he visited Britain in February. The interpreter was Houzan Mahmoud. In the last two months there has been a huge wave of strikes: textile workers in Kut, power workers in Nasiriyah, aluminium products workers in Nasiriyah, chemical workers in Baghdad, leather workers in Baghdad, and agricultural workers. There were different reasons for different strikes. Many were a response to high fuel price rises. That led to a wave of strikes to raise wages. Others were in response to the threat of...

Iraq's strike wave

Falah Alwan, president of the Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions of Iraq, spoke to Solidarity when he visited Britain in February. The interpreter was Houzan Mahmoud. In the last two months there has been a huge wave of strikes: textile workers in Kut, power workers in Nasiriyah, aluminium products workers in Nasiriyah, chemical workers in Baghdad, leather workers in Baghdad, and agricultural workers. There were different reasons for different strikes. Many were a response to high fuel price rises. That led to a wave of strikes to raise wages. Others were in response to the threat of...

Scottish Socialists back Iraqi labour movement

by Angela Paton, Kilmarnock SSP conference delegate To judge by the Scottish Socialist Party’s annual conference, which took place in Perth on 12–13 February, the party, despite problems, continues to represent a level of organisation and a commitment to working-class politics that place it in a completely different category from Respect. There were about 300 delegates and 100 observers present; the SSP now has 3,000 members, but, with not all of them active, the bigger factions are able to dominate with relatively small numbers. The International Socialist Movement, a majority split from...

Iraqi Unions solidarity

At the end of the TUC Iraq solidarity conference on 14 February, a group of trade unionists got together to set up an unofficial grassroots Iraq Unions Solidarity network. From the platform of the conference itself, TUC international officer Owen Tudor had welcomed the initiative. The TUC can do many things, he said, but not grassroots network-building. The new network will work with and seek to complement the official TUC Iraq solidarity committee. It will not compete or seek to claim any official status. What it will do, though, is provide a forum accessible to every active and interested...

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