February 21, 2007
Modern labor movements developed in national contexts. They are often dependent on national governments for legal rights and political favors. Workers are a patriotic segment of many societies. Governments often lean hard on worker organizations that don’t support their foreign policies. For all these reasons, labor movements often support – reluctantly or enthusiastically – the foreign policies of their own countries, however foolish, immoral, or evidently anti-labor they may be.
In the United States, the AFL-CIO remained a supporter of the war in Vietnam long after public opinion, working class communities, some unions, and the young veterans returning from Vietnam had turned strongly against it. In the 1980s, organized labor battled internally between those who supported Bush administration operations in Central America and a powerful group of unions, led by the National Labor Committee in Support of Democracy and Human rights in El Salvador, who promoted an end to U.S. intervention and close cooperation between unions in the U.S. and Central America. (As Kitty Krupat explains in ”From War Zone to Free Trade Zone,” in No Sweat, edited by Andrew Ross, this organization evolved into the National Labor Committee, headed by Charlie Kernaghan, which spearheaded attacks on sweatshops perpetrated by U.S. corporations abroad.)
When the Bush administration started promoting an attack on Iraq – justified by claims of weapons of mass destruction and ties with Al-Qaeda that even the administration now admits were false – the American labor movement responded differently from the past. Even before the attack, most of the labor movement joined the massive opposition to the war. Both the AFL-CIO and Change to Win have continued to oppose the war and occupation. At the Washington peace march in January, 2007, many participants were union members and unions, including notably SEIU, provided a substantial part of financial support.
Much of the labor participation in the anti-war movement has been mobilized by a group called U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW) that was founded by trade union leaders in the run-up to the U.S. invasion. After the U.S. military occupied Iraq, USLAW activists decided that their top priority should be building bridges with Iraqi trade unionists. In 2004, they organized a delegation of US trade unionists to go to Iraq. Then they organized a delegation of Iraqi trade unionists to tour the U.S. That tour and its background are now portrayed in the movie MEETING FACE TO FACE.
The Iraqi trade union movement goes back to the 1920s. But under Saddam Hussein, trade union leaders went underground or into exile. Most unions were illegal. Saddam’s decree 150 issued in 1987 prohibited all unions in the public sector, which comprised the lion’s share of the Iraqi economy.
Astonishingly, the U.S. occupation continued decree 150 issued against public sector unions in force. A photograph in the movie shows National Guards attacking striking workers with bayonets; the Guard opened fire, wounded several workers, and arrested 10. Nonetheless, by the end of 2005 300,000 oil and other public sector workers had organized.
USLAW realized that a delegation of Iraqi labor leaders would only be meaningful in the U.S. context if they represented a broad cross-section of the labor movement. So they brought delegates from all three of the main Iraqi federations. They spent five days in Washington, D.C., then broke into three groups and fanned out to visit 25 different cities.
In Washington, the Iraqis met with members of Congress and senior labor leaders, including officials of the SEIU, the OPEIU, the Steelworkers, and President John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO. Some expressed astonishment that the U.S. occupation was actually treating unions as illegal.
As labor scholar and trip organizer Michael Zweig notes near the start of the movie, the Iraqi labor movement is part of a “third force” that despised Saddam Hussein but strongly opposes the U.S. occupation. Early in the movie one of the Iraqi trade unionists notices a poster on a Washington, D.C. street with a picture of Saddam’s statue being pulled down; he commented that everyone was happy when Saddam’s statue fell, but that it would have been better if it had been pulled down by Iraqis rather than Americas. “Everyone wished the end of Saddam, but not the beginning of an occupation.” One Iraqi trade unionist noted that they all shared “longing for democracy and freedom and a life with dignity.”
Indeed, the unionists from all three federations strongly supported an end to the occupation. One observed that a U.S. pullout is “the first condition to reestablish security and stability.” Another added that “the future of Iraq will be built by Iraqi people.”
Both the Americans and the Iraqis pointed out the Bush administration’s effort to impose right wing economic policies on Iraq. One U.S. trade unionist pledged, “We are committed to seeing that our government does not try to buy and sell all of your industries to corporations.” Another described U.S. economic policy in Iraq as ”an experiment in privatization, it is what we are fighting here, and what our country is doing in Iraq is, it’s trying to privatize an entire country.” In a meeting with Congressional representatives, Dennis Kucinich reflected that it is “All in the name of the dollar bill.”
David Foster from the Steelworkers emphasized the role played by unions in the democratization process all around the world. Morty Bahr of the Communication workers noted that “free unions are necessary for democracy.”
At the end of the tour U.S. and Iraqi delegations sat down to draw up a joint statement. They quickly agreed on the central role of unions and labor law. But, as time to leave for the plane approached, the three Iraqi federations conducted intense negotiations among themselves in Arabic over the contentious issue of secularism. Some of the leaders proudly proclaimed the labor movement as part of a progressive secular movement against the occupation. But a representative of oil workers in the Basra region said that 90 percent of his members were Shiites. “If I give my constituents statements with words like multiculturalism, secularism, discrimination, they would throw it in my face.” At the last minute “everyone agreed to accept basic ILO and United Nations commitments to a society based on nondiscrimination and respect for all individuals.” (The text of the statement appears below.)
Not surprisingly, the Iraqi delegation was all-male. They stated that they were working hard for participation of women in the economy and the union. A photo of Iraqi women trade unionists illustrated this theme. What this does or doesn’t mean on the ground was not explored in the film.
The organizers of the tour note how important it is for American workers to hear the voices of Iraqi workers. They emphasize how valuable it is for workers in different countries to bond through the work they do – for teachers to bond with teachers and garment workers with garment workers. They point out how natural it is to do so when workers meet face to face. One U.S. worker who met the Iraqis said, “When we meet face to face, we find out we’re human beings, with all the same feelings. They are not terrorists, they are our brothers.”
MEETING FACE-TO-FACE is professionally produced with very competent editing and production values. It features vivid pictures of what is going on in Iraq, as well as interviews with U.S. and Iraqi trade unionists. It would make a great discussion starter for any union – Not just about Iraq but about meaning of labor solidarity across borders. Indeed, this international encounter and the movie about it could serve as a model for cross-border collaborations by workers to address such issues as immigration and outsourcing.
A DVD with a 3:30 minute trailer, a 15:48 minute short version, and a 27:23 full version is available at the movie’s website. It will soon also be available in Spanish, French, and Arabic. Directed by Jonathan Levin. Executive Producer – Michael Zweig.
Below is the joint statement by Iraqi and U.S. labor activists.
Joint Statement by Leaders of Iraq’s Labor Movement and U.S. Labor Against the War
June 26, 2005, Washington DC, USA
We, the representatives of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI), the General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE), and U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW) issue this statement at the conclusion of an historic 25-city tour by leaders of the three Iraqi labor organizations in the United States.
We speak in the spirit of international solidarity and respect for labor rights around the world. We speak in the spirit of opposition to war and occupation and for the right of self-determination of nations and peoples.
On behalf of the Iraqi labor movement, we met and spoke directly to thousands of Americans, including workers, union, religious and political leaders, anti-war activists and ordinary citizens. All of us, both Iraqi and American, were deeply heartened at the solidarity expressed throughout the tour. We have seen with our eyes and felt with our
hearts that the people of the United States do not want the war and occupation of Iraq to continue. We are strengthened in our understanding of the deep commitment of organized labor and workers in Iraq to a unified democratic, independent Iraq, with full equality between women and men in terms of rights and duties, and based on full respect for the human identity without discrimination on any basis.
The tour was an expression of the following key principles:
The principal obstacle to peace, stability, and the reconstruction of Iraq is the occupation. The occupation is the problem, not the solution. Iraqi sovereignty and independence must be restored. The occupation must end in all its forms, including military bases and economic domination. The war was fought for oil and regional domination, in violation of international law, justified by lies and deception without consultation with the Iraqi people.
The occupation has been a catastrophe for both our peoples. In Iraq, it has destroyed homes and industry, national institutions and infrastructure – water, sanitation, electric power and health services. It has killed many thousands, and left millions homeless and unemployed. It has poisoned the people, their land and water with the toxic residue of the war. In the United States, more than 1700 working families have suffered loss of loved ones and thousands more have been wounded, disabled or psychologically scarred in a war that serves no legitimate purpose. The cost of the war has led to slashing of social programs and public services. It has militarized our economy, undermined our own liberties and eroded our democratic rights.
We believe it is the best interest of both our peoples for the war and occupation to end and for the Iraqi people to determine for themselves their future and the kind and extent of international aid and cooperation that suits their needs and serves the interests of the Iraqi people.
We strongly and unambiguously condemn terrorist attacks on civilians and targeting of trade union and other civil society leaders for intimidation, kidnapping, torture and assassination. The occupation is fuel on the fire of terrorism.
The national wealth and resources of Iraq belong to the Iraqi people. We are united in our opposition to the imposition of privatization of the Iraqi economy by the occupation, the IMF, the World Bank, foreign powers and any force that takes away the right of the Iraqi people to determine their own economic future. We call on nations across the globe to help Iraqis regain their economic capacity, including full reparations from the US and British governments to rebuild the war-ravaged country.
We call for the cancellation of Saddam’s massive foreign debt by the IMF and other international lenders without any conditions imposed upon the people of Iraq who suffered under the regime that was supported by these loans. The foreign debt of Iraq is the debt of a fallen dictatorship, not the debt incurred by the Iraqi people. Further, we call for the cancellation of reparations imposed as a result of wars waged by Saddam Hussein’s regime, and call for the return of all Iraqi property and antiquities taken during the war and occupation.”
The bedrock of any democracy is a strong, free, democratic labor movement. We are united in our commitment to build strong, independent, democratic unions and to fight to improve the wages, working and living conditions of workers everywhere. We confront the same economic and corporate interests that have mounted a global assault on workers and labor rights. We demand strong labor rights in Iraq at the same time that we strive to reverse the erosion of labor rights in the United States and elsewhere around the world where they are threatened. We call for free and independent labor unions in Iraq based on internationally recognized ILO conventions guaranteeing the right to organize free of all government interference and including full equality for women workers. We support the direct participation of labor and workers’ representatives in drafting the new labor code, in determining government policies affecting unions and workers’ interests, and in drafting the new constitution. We condemn the continued enforcement of Saddam’s decree number 150 issued in 1987 that abolished union rights for workers in the extensive Iraqi public sector and call for its immediate repeal.
We commit ourselves to strengthening the bonds of solidarity and friendship between working people of our two countries and to increase communication and cooperation between our two labor movements. We look forward to delegations of Iraqis and Americans visiting each other’s countries for mutual support, and to strengthen international understanding and solidarity in our common struggle for peace and establishment of a democratic civil society that respects human rights and freedom.
With the strength and solidarity of workers across the US, in Iraq and internationally, we are confident that we can build a just and democratic future for labor in Iraq, the US, and around the world.
Signed: June 26, 2005