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LABOUR-EU: Trade Unions Promoted in Iraq

Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, Apr 5 2004 (IPS) - A leading trade union network is launching a support programme for the development of trade unions in Iraq.

The Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the Global Union Federations (GUF) hope that the new programme will allow "free and independent trade unions to flourish in post-war Iraq and will ensure that fundamental workers’ rights are respected."

The programme aims to enable Iraqi people to "develop a solid institutional, legislative and policy framework" to ensure that workers in the country will experience a fair reconstruction process.

The groups say in a joint statement that Iraqi people must have "full control of the country’s substantial resources and its economic future, and the development of a strong and vibrant democratic trade union movement is of critical importance in ensuring that this occurs."

Under Saddam Hussein’s rule unions were forbidden in Iraq.

The country’s economy stands devastated by the war and more than ten years of sanctions. A lack of infrastructure and raw materials has resulted in most of the workforce becoming unemployed. The burden on Iraqi women is especially heavy.

Since the fall of the Iraqi dictator last May, ICFTU says workers are eager to organise unions in workplaces, and to revitalise union structures which were previously dominated by the Ba’ath party.

"After decades of a ban on free and independent trade unionism, Iraqi workers are determined to ensure that their fundamental workers’ rights are respected and, despite the security problems, they are organising themselves into trade unions," ICFTU general secretary Guy Ryder said in a statement Monday.

"Our programme involves practical support for union organisation and action on social, economic, legal and institutional issues," he added.

As the country recovers from the U.S.-led war of last year, ICFTU says that "substantial changes" are expected in the Iraqi economy, including the possibility of significant foreign investment.

The need for trade unions is "growing ever more important in view of likely significant foreign investment and the privatisation of previously state-owned industries," says ICFTU, whose members represent some 158 million workers in 150 countries.

"ICFTU seeks to ensure that privatisation will benefit the people of Iraq and that the wealth remains in their hands," spokesperson for ICFTU Barbara Kwateng told IPS. "Sectors of public interest, including health and education, should remain untouched by privatisation."

The organisation adds that a new labour code which fully respects International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards must be implemented to give Iraqi people the working rights they are entitled to.

These are the "core labour standards" set out by the ILO covering forced labour, freedom of association, discrimination in employment and child labour.

ICFTU says the ILO must work to replace the existing Ba’athist laws which underpinned decades of anti-union repression under the previous regime.

"We will work at national level; building the capacity of Iraqi trade unions to deal with governments and employers on a bipartite or tripartite basis and to ensure that Iraqi labour legislation is in line with international standards," said Kwateng.

The international trade union movement says it will monitor labour developments in the country closely, including the impact on working conditions and living standards, to hold investors accountable to international standards.

The Global Union Federations says that training on issues of collective bargaining will remain a focal point for work in the public and private sectors. "The ICFTU, its affiliates and the Global Union Federations are working for multilateral action to ensure respect for fundamental workers’ rights in Iraq," said Ryder. "The international trade union movement will be cooperating closely with the ILO and with the international community in general to make this aim a reality." The new programme is a direct response to an ICFTU mission to Iraq in February when representatives from union bodies met workers and trade union officials.

The mission reported that there was "an appetite and a need for trade unionism" in the country.

ICFTU says since the end of the war, trade union activity has resulted in better wages in some sectors, but stresses that working conditions for the vast majority of Iraqi people remain "harsh".