Severian
11th May 2004, 13:05
Like a lot of people, I try to keep up with events partly by reading between the lines of the big-business media. Sometimes this works, but the organized working class in Iraq has been left completely out of their coverage.
And it is a factor in events, independent of the imperial occupation and of the "Islamic" capitalist-nationalist forces.
I've done some looking around and found some detailed articles from somewhat lefty publications, and some useful info on union websites.
The War on Iraq's Workers (http://zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=4568) This is the most informative of them. Read it. Please. It explains:
Saddam's regime banned all unions in publicly owned workplaces - affecting 2/3 of Iraqi workers. This law is still in place under the "democratic" imperialist occupation. The emerging labor unions are demanding the repeal of this law, of course. And workers are organizing in defiance of it.
The occupation maintains incredibly low wage levels in the face of skyrocketing living costs. It has enacted plans to open Iraq to unrestrained corporate exploitation, and sell of national property to U.S. companies at dirt-cheap prices.
Unemployed workers have organized demonstrations to demand jobs or unemployment compensation. And employed workers have struck in a number of cases despite the sky-high unemployment rate and the danger of finding oneself on the street. Workers at the Southern Oil Company won higher wages for oil workers throughout Iraq by the threat of an armed strike. (http://www.uuiraq.org/english/35.htm) Oil production, by the way, is back up to pre-invasion levels and is a significant source of revenue for the occupying administration.
Iraqi workers are not only dealing with their immediate economic needs, but putting forward an overall program for the political crisis.
* First, to end the occupation and compel the withdrawal of occupation troops. Since it is also the basis upon which the terrorist groups pursue their activities and organize the chaos in Iraq. We want a government elected in Iraq by the Iraqi people.
* Second, we want a secular state -- with separation of church and state.
* Third, we want to promote and secure the best workers' rights that exist in the world. We want to organize a conference in Iraq for the respect of labor rights, conventions and international standards.
* Fourth, we need and are hoping to obtain the support of the international labor movement, we need solidarity among all unions.
From a statement by an official of the Federation of Workers Trade Unions and Councils in Iraq (http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=4389), on the U.S. Labor Against the War site. That site has a lot of other stuff on the Iraqi labor movement, and what can be done to help them.
Here's an article from the social-democratic "In these times" which contains mostly the same info plus some more about the oil union. (http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=4299)
Here's the website of the "Federation of Workers Councils and Unions" and the "Union of Unemployed" (http://www.uuiraq.org/) It has a lot of stuff on different strikes, unemployed demonstrations, violence by the occupiers against these demonstrations, etc. Also statements on issues like women's rights, including this statement against the Governing Council's enactment of religious law. (http://www.uuiraq.org/english/26.html) Remember that the Governing Council was appointed by the occupiers and all its acts are subject to Bremer's veto. This labor federation is apparently associated with the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq".
The other major labor federation is the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions. (http://www.iraqitradeunions.org/) Their website doesn't seem so full of news of grassroots struggles. But heck, maybe their local units have been involved in some, I don't know. I do know the U.S. army attacked their national headquarters at one point, briefly arrested some of their leaders, and still has the offices locked up. This federation's associated with the "Communist Party of Iraq", which has joined the occupation's quisling Governing Council. That gives it a leg up: the Council says the IFTU is the "the legitimate and legal representatives of the labour movement in Iraq." Um. Good that you've legalized it, but I think it's for the workers to say who represents them. The other federation points out this has handicapped them as it can be interpreted as saying they're illegal.
The "General Federation of Trade Unions" associated with the old regime may still be out there somewhere, but if it's doing anything I haven't been able to find out about it.
Aside from the comparatively minor issue of who has the right political line exactly (clearly the CPI's nowhere near it), the reality is that the working class is organizing, taking advantage of a certain amount of political space that exists for open, aboveground resistance to the occupation to the bosses, and asserting its political independence. In doing so, it has to contend not only with the occupation, but with rightist "Islamic" forces with a backward view of women's rights, religous freedom and church-state separation, and sometimes with a tendency towards thuggish repression of anyone who disagrees with them. Sometimes the occupation and these "Islamic" groups are allied.
But there is another force in Iraqi politics, little noticed by the big-business press, but one we all have to consider when trying to understand the fast-moving events there. I know I haven't always taken it enough into account.
And it is a factor in events, independent of the imperial occupation and of the "Islamic" capitalist-nationalist forces.
I've done some looking around and found some detailed articles from somewhat lefty publications, and some useful info on union websites.
The War on Iraq's Workers (http://zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=4568) This is the most informative of them. Read it. Please. It explains:
Saddam's regime banned all unions in publicly owned workplaces - affecting 2/3 of Iraqi workers. This law is still in place under the "democratic" imperialist occupation. The emerging labor unions are demanding the repeal of this law, of course. And workers are organizing in defiance of it.
The occupation maintains incredibly low wage levels in the face of skyrocketing living costs. It has enacted plans to open Iraq to unrestrained corporate exploitation, and sell of national property to U.S. companies at dirt-cheap prices.
Unemployed workers have organized demonstrations to demand jobs or unemployment compensation. And employed workers have struck in a number of cases despite the sky-high unemployment rate and the danger of finding oneself on the street. Workers at the Southern Oil Company won higher wages for oil workers throughout Iraq by the threat of an armed strike. (http://www.uuiraq.org/english/35.htm) Oil production, by the way, is back up to pre-invasion levels and is a significant source of revenue for the occupying administration.
Iraqi workers are not only dealing with their immediate economic needs, but putting forward an overall program for the political crisis.
* First, to end the occupation and compel the withdrawal of occupation troops. Since it is also the basis upon which the terrorist groups pursue their activities and organize the chaos in Iraq. We want a government elected in Iraq by the Iraqi people.
* Second, we want a secular state -- with separation of church and state.
* Third, we want to promote and secure the best workers' rights that exist in the world. We want to organize a conference in Iraq for the respect of labor rights, conventions and international standards.
* Fourth, we need and are hoping to obtain the support of the international labor movement, we need solidarity among all unions.
From a statement by an official of the Federation of Workers Trade Unions and Councils in Iraq (http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=4389), on the U.S. Labor Against the War site. That site has a lot of other stuff on the Iraqi labor movement, and what can be done to help them.
Here's an article from the social-democratic "In these times" which contains mostly the same info plus some more about the oil union. (http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=4299)
Here's the website of the "Federation of Workers Councils and Unions" and the "Union of Unemployed" (http://www.uuiraq.org/) It has a lot of stuff on different strikes, unemployed demonstrations, violence by the occupiers against these demonstrations, etc. Also statements on issues like women's rights, including this statement against the Governing Council's enactment of religious law. (http://www.uuiraq.org/english/26.html) Remember that the Governing Council was appointed by the occupiers and all its acts are subject to Bremer's veto. This labor federation is apparently associated with the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq".
The other major labor federation is the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions. (http://www.iraqitradeunions.org/) Their website doesn't seem so full of news of grassroots struggles. But heck, maybe their local units have been involved in some, I don't know. I do know the U.S. army attacked their national headquarters at one point, briefly arrested some of their leaders, and still has the offices locked up. This federation's associated with the "Communist Party of Iraq", which has joined the occupation's quisling Governing Council. That gives it a leg up: the Council says the IFTU is the "the legitimate and legal representatives of the labour movement in Iraq." Um. Good that you've legalized it, but I think it's for the workers to say who represents them. The other federation points out this has handicapped them as it can be interpreted as saying they're illegal.
The "General Federation of Trade Unions" associated with the old regime may still be out there somewhere, but if it's doing anything I haven't been able to find out about it.
Aside from the comparatively minor issue of who has the right political line exactly (clearly the CPI's nowhere near it), the reality is that the working class is organizing, taking advantage of a certain amount of political space that exists for open, aboveground resistance to the occupation to the bosses, and asserting its political independence. In doing so, it has to contend not only with the occupation, but with rightist "Islamic" forces with a backward view of women's rights, religous freedom and church-state separation, and sometimes with a tendency towards thuggish repression of anyone who disagrees with them. Sometimes the occupation and these "Islamic" groups are allied.
But there is another force in Iraqi politics, little noticed by the big-business press, but one we all have to consider when trying to understand the fast-moving events there. I know I haven't always taken it enough into account.