David Bacon, Baghdad
US occupation forces have escalated their efforts to paralyse Iraq's new trade unions. On December 6, a convoy of 10 humvees and armoured personnel carriers descended on the old headquarters of the Transport and Communications Workers Union, in Baghdad's central bus station, which has been used since June as the office of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU). Twenty soldiers jumped out, stormed into the building, put handcuffs on eight members of the federation's executive board and took them into detention.
"They gave no reason at all, despite being asked over and over", said federation spokesperson Abdullah Muhsin. Soldiers painted out the name of the IFTU on the front of the building with black paint. Because the new unions lack basic resources like office furniture and machines, there was little to confiscate in the building. "But we did have a few files and they took those", Muhsin reported. Ironically, the office had posters on the walls condemning terrorism, which soldiers also tore down in the raid.
Although the eight unionists were released the following day, there was no explanation from the US-controlled Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) for the detentions.
The raid followed the detention of two other trade union leaders on November 23 — Qasim Hadi, general-secretary of the Unemployed Union of Iraq (UUI), and Adil Salih, another leader of that organisation. Hadi has been arrested twice before by occupation troops for leading demonstrations of unemployed workers demanding unemployment benefits and jobs.
In the latest raid, US troops found two guns in the UUI's office, which is only permitted to have one. Hadi explained that the organisation has been the subject of threats and fatwahs by religious parties and needs weapons for self-defence, since US troops are unable or unwilling to provide security. The two were released after being detained for a day.
Both union groups have been organising Iraqi workers for months. The IFTU held a convention in Baghdad in June, at which it established unions in 12 industries. The UUI belongs to the Workers Unions and Councils group, which has also been organising since last (northern) summer.
The wave of union organising going on in Iraq is a product of the desperate conditions of the country's workers. As many as 7 million people, according to the UUI, or 70% of the work force, have no jobs. Many go hungry, and are even homeless.
Although US Congress appropriated US$87 billion for reconstruction, Dr Nuri Jafer, the puppet Iraqi Governing Council's deputy minister for labour and social affairs, admits he can find "no country willing to fund our plans" for a minimal system of unemployment benefits. Reconstruction is invisible in Baghdad. Work may be proceeding on pipelines and ports for oil exports, but huge piles of war rubble lie untouched in city's streets.
US funding in Iraq pays for an overwhelming military presence, and the transformation of the Iraqi economy. Both are intended to make the country attractive to foreign investors. In an October 8 press conference, Thomas Foley, the CPA's director for private sector development, announced a list of the first Iraqi state enterprises to be sold off, including cement and fertiliser plants, phosphate and sulfur mines, pharmaceutical factories and the country's airline.
On September 19, the CPA published Order No. 39, which permits 100% foreign ownership of businesses, except for the oil industry, and allows the transfer of profits outside the country.
Iraqi workers view the prospect of the privatisation of their workplaces with dread, fearing the sell-off will bring massive layoffs. The manager of the Al Daura oil refinery, Dathar al Kashab, predicted that with privatisation: "I'll have to fire 1500 [of the refinery's 3000] workers. In America, when a company lays people off, there's unemployment insurance, and they won't die from hunger. If I dismiss employees now, I'm killing them and their families."
At the refinery, as in most factories, those with jobs work 11- and 13-hour shifts for a salary of $60 a month. They have no safety shoes, goggles or other protective gear. The IFTU helped refinery workers organise a union and elect its leaders, and have done the same in other industries.
In Basra, in Iraq's south, workers have formed a central labour council and have mounted protest demonstrations. The Workers Unions and Councils group has helped workers elect committees in the State Leather Industry plant, the largest shoe factory in the Middle East, and the Mamoun vegetable oil enterprise, among others.
Whenever these new unions try to talk with the plant managers, however, they're told that a law decreed by Saddam Hussein in 1987 forbids workers in state-owned enterprises (where the majority of Iraqis work) from forming unions. The CPA is still enforcing this law. Another order issued by the CPA on June 6 threatens that anyone who "incites civil disorder" with detention as a prisoner of war.
Washington's anti-union campaign lays bare the economic purpose of the US occupation — the privatisation of the enterprises that employ most workers. While suppressing trade unions, international conferences take place in Washington and London every week, at which these assets are put on sale.
At one recent conference, ExxonMobil, Delta Airlines and the American Hospital Group all expressed interest. Since new foreign owners can be expected to cut labour costs by laying off workers, resistance has been made illegal with laws banning unions.
In an additional step to make investment attractive, the CPA is holding down the wages of Iraqi workers. The $60 a month received by most employees was the same salary paid under Hussein's regime, but the bonuses, profit-sharing payments and subsidies for food and housing have been ended by the US occupation, resulting in a drastic cut in income.
Iraq's new labour movement is determined to stop the sell-off of worksites, the loss of jobs and the prohibition of unions and strikes. Jassim Mashkoul, the IFTU's director for internal communications, laments that "at the beginning, we thought our situation might get better, since we got rid of Hussein. But it hasn't improved."
According to another federation leader, Muhsen Mull Ali, who spent two long stints in prison for organising unions, "our responsibility is to oppose privatisation as much as possible, and fight for the welfare of our workers".
From Green Left Weekly, January 14, 2004.
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