February 23, 2007
Last week we ran a review of the documentary MEETING FACE TO FACE: THE IRAQ-U.S. SOLIDARITY TOUR describing a visit by Iraqi trade unionists to visit trade unionists and allies in the U.S. Now Labourstart reports that U.S. and Iraq forces have raided the head offices of the General Federation of Iraqi workers, one of the groups that participated in the tour. According to the Federation’s official statement,
On 23 February, American and Iraqi forces raided the head office of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) and arrested one of the Union security staff.
This unprovoked attack resulted in the destruction of furniture, the confiscation of a computer and fax machine and the arrest of employee who was released unharmed later same day.
The same force repeated this unprovoked attack on 25 February and caused further damage.
The GFIW while condemning this unprovoked attack and calls on the occupation forces to issue a written apology, to return all the GFIW property and compensate for the damages they caused to our office.
We call on trade unions around the world to show solidarity by condemning these attacks and sending messages of support to the GFIW.
The GFIW Executive
Baghdad 26 February 2007
According to Labourstart, the Federation is asking unions around the world to send messages of protest by clicking here.
One of the principal concerns of the Iraqi trade union leaders who visited the U.S. last year, vividly expressed in MEETING FACE TO FACE, was the effort to turn Iraqi oil resources over to foreign companies. The raid on the union headquarters occurred just as the U.S.-backed Iraqi cabinet approved a new oil law that Iraqi unions pledged to fight.
According to a February 27 article from InterPress Service entitled “New Oil Law Seen as Cover for Privatization,” unions are playing an important role in the opposition to the new law:
The U.S.-backed Iraqi cabinet approved a new oil law Monday that is set to give foreign companies the long-term contracts and safe legal framework they have been waiting for, but which has rattled labour unions and international campaigners who say oil production should remain in the hands of Iraqis.
Independent analysts and labour groups have also criticised the process of drafting the law and warned that that the bill is so skewed in favour of foreign firms that it could end up heightening political tensions in the Arab nation and spreading instability.
For example, it specifies that up to two-thirds of Iraq’s known reserves would be developed by multinationals, under contracts lasting for 15 to 20 years.
This policy would represent a u-turn for Iraq’s oil industry, which has been in the public sector for more than three decades, and would break from normal practice in the Middle East.
According to local labour leaders, transferring ownership to the foreign companies would give a further pretext to continue the U.S. occupation on the grounds that those companies will need protection.
Union leaders have complained that they, along with other civil society groups, were left out of the drafting process despite U.S. claims it has created a functioning democracy in Iraq.
Under the production-sharing agreements provided for in the draft law, companies will not come under the jurisdiction of Iraqi courts in the event of a dispute, nor to the general auditor.
The ownership of the oil reserves under this draft law will remain with the state in form, but not in substance, critics say.
On Feb. 8, the labour unions sent a letter in Arabic to Iraqi President Jalal Talbani urging him to reconsider this kind of agreement.
“Production-sharing agreements are a relic of the 1960s,” said the letter, seen by IPS. “They will re-imprison the Iraqi economy and impinge on Iraq’s sovereignty since they only preserve the interests of foreign companies. We warn against falling into this trap.”
In a speech earlier this month by Hassan Juma, head of the Iraqi Oil Labour Union, posted on the union’s website, he called on the Iraqi government to consult with Iraqi oil experts and “ask their opinion before sinking Iraq into an ocean of dark injustice.”
Hassan Juma was one of those who spoke out most eloquently against oil privatization in MEETING FACE TO FACE. According to an an article in Time, he is threatening to strike against the law and to fight foreign companies that try to operate under it:
The rumblings of opposition go beyond parliament to the oil fields themselves. Iraq’s biggest oil unions, which could potentially disrupt production, have been among the law’s strongest opponents. Hassan Jum’ah Awwad Al-Asadi, head of Iraq’s Federation of Oil Unions, the largest union group, says he intends to mobilize his 23,000 or so members against the draft. “We want a new, different law, which will be in the interests of Iraqis,” he said by phone from Basra on Wednesday. “If there is no solution we can stop production, stop exports.” In a more threatening tone, he told union members at a conference on the law in Basra in early February: “We strongly warn all the foreign companies and foreign capital in the form of American companies against coming into our lands under the guise of production-sharing agreements.”
We’ll leave it to readers to speculate on whether there is a connection between the raid on the Federation’s headquarters and union opposition to the oil law.
Links to Iraqi union websites can be found at http://www.MeetingFacetoFace.org