Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions-IFTU Helps Alawi’s Government to Crack Down on Workers’ Protests in Petrochemical and plastic Company in Baghdad

 

 

While the leaders of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions-IFTU and its representatives pose as defenders of workers’ rights and union freedoms, the activists of the Mechanical Union, a branch of IFTU in the Iraqi Petrochemical and Plastic Manufactures Company tried to prevent workers from establishing their own union and elect their representatives.

 

In collaboration with the company’s administration, they threatened workers with sacking, jailing and killing to force them call off a strike organized early this month. They justified these oppressive actions by referring to resolutions passed by Alawi’s government, which ban union activity and install IFTU as the only legal union. 

 

This union issued membership cards and forced them on workers and force workers to pay compulsory membership by deducting it from their salaries, while, in many cases it stood against workers and defended the administration.

This union also ordered the workers who participated in the strike to pay 8 million Iraqi dinars as compensation to the company for its losses as the result of this strike or face sacking.

 

Genuine trade unions should not be formed by Iyad Alawi and should do not wait permission from his government. The acts of the governmental union are outright violation of workers’ rights. They are the reproduction of the fascist traditions used against the Iraqi workers for decades.

 

It is worth mentioning that the workers of Petrochemical Manufactures have formed their own union and elected their representatives. Many workers joined the new union and prevented the pro-administration governmental union from carrying out its activity.

 

These violations of workers’ rights must stop and the authority must not be allowed to interfere in workers’ affairs. The IFTU which is acting as apparatus of the government rather than the representative of workers despite their attempt to appear as defenders of union freedoms and the right of workers to join any union before international community must not be allowed to impose resolutions passed by an illegitimate government.

 

 

Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions in Iraq

Jan 10,2005