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International Conference in Defense of ILO Conventions, Against the Occupation, and for Labor Rights in Iraq

 

Report of Trip to Geneva for USLAW -- June 11-14, 2004

 

 

For the long text of this  report please look at ; www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=6080

 

 

When we arrived in Geneva the next morning, we were met at the airport by Max Robert, a young school teacher in Geneva, father of three, and left activist.  He proudly recounted a recent victory by the Swiss Socialist Party and other progressive forces in winning a referendum rejecting a Swiss government proposal to reduce pensions.  He educated us about some of the basics of Swiss politics, including that Swiss citizens had voted not to join the European Union, and that Switzerland was the only European country with a mechanism for bringing legislative decisions to a popular referendum. 

 

Max dropped us off at Hotel Les Nations, a very nice, small hotel, where we had a half an hour or so to freshen up before the day’s meetings began.  In the hotel lobby, we connected with Jean- Pierre Borrios, a French leader of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC), who spoke French and English and assisted with translation throughout the weekend, as well as with three Iraqi trade unionists: Falah Alwan, President of the FWCUI (Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq), Qasim Hadi, General Secretary of UUI (Union of Unemployed in Iraq), and Aso Jabbar, the Representative of the FWCUI and UUI Abroad, who spoke Arabic and English and served as Falah and Qasim’s interpreter for much of the weekend.

 

Falah, a resident of the Sadr City section of Baghdad, is a textile worker who organized in secret under the Saddam regime, leading several strikes.  Qasim is a tailor by trade, also a Baghdad resident and an organizer who worked underground during the previous regime, who proudly reported that he was arrested three times by Saddam’s regime and three times by United States authorities.  Aso is a medical doctor by training, and an Iraqi refugee living in Bern, Switzerland.  He is Kurdish and fled persecution by Kurdish political parties in northern Iraq in the late 1990s.

 

The informal meeting with Falah, Qasim, and Aso gave us our first opportunity to begin to learn first hand of the political, economic, and legal situation in Iraq.

 

The first piece of news was disturbing -- that the FWCUI’s webmaster had been killed in a car accident resulting from a clash between American troops and insurgents near the Syrian border on May 19.  He had been out of the country for over twenty years, living and working in Switzerland, and lost his life on his first return.  He had been planning to make a documentary film on the situation in Iraq, and was killed when he was en route to Damascus for his return flight to Switzerland as part of a car caravan (traveling across the country by caravan is common because of the dangerous security situation).  As a result of this tragedy, the FWCUI web page had not been updated.

 

On a more positive note, the FWCUI had published three new issues of their newspaper at 5,000 copies per month.  It is free and distributed at factories by union activists as well as handed out on the streets.   

 

Qasim explained the details of his arrests by U.S. occupation authorities.  On July 13, 2003, he and 18 fellow UUI members were arrested by U.S. soldiers and held for one day in the jail in the Civil Affairs Building in Baghdad, for demonstrating overnight in front of the offices of Paul Bremer, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).  On August 3, 2003, Qasim was one of 56 UUI members who were again arrested and held in the Civil Affairs Building for participating in demonstrations across from Bremer’s office. 

 

On November 23, 2003, the offices of the UUI were raided by U.S. forces, and UUI leaders were accused of using illegal guns.  Qasim was held for 5 days at the jail in the College of Iraqi Police, during which time he was threatened with imprisonment for up to 15 years.  The UUI waged a successful campaign for his release, including international pressure, letters to the CPA, and planning a large demonstration at the United States government compound. 

 

On all three occasions, U.S. soldiers interrogated the Iraqi detainees individually and attempted to intimidate them in various ways.

 

Qasim and Falah gave us a brief report on workers’ struggles in Iraq since the war began. Right after the war, there was very little worker activity in many parts of the country because of the devastation of the bombardment.  UUI demonstrations were among the few organized protests.

 

In areas not significantly affected by the bombardment, there were numerous strikes and demonstrations, often over common issues:

 

-         Demanding change in the administration of enterprises (getting rid of Baathist managers)

-         Demanding payment of wages owed

-         Calling for reinstatement of workers fired by the previous Baathist regime

-         Pushing for full employment rights (as opposed to temporary employment)

 

The FWCUI led demonstrations in rail, oil, textile, and other industries.  Groups of workers mobilized in various workplaces with or without formal organizational leadership.   Dockworkers demonstrated, garment workers struck, and bank employees walked off the job to demand the release of 50 co-workers arrested on the false accusation of stealing funds.  Southern Oil Company workers in Basra formed an independent union, similar in orientation to but not tied to the FWCUI, protested and won concessions without resorting to a strike.

 

Most if not all of this activity was illegal, because the CPA had maintained Saddam’s 1987 law defining all employees in the public sector (which comprised most of the formal Iraqi economy) as civil servants, with no right to form unions, bargain collectively, or strike.

 

A final comment: “Saddam’s time was unimaginably brutal.  The U.S. Occupation is a black comedy.” - Falah Alwan.

 

Following our initial discussion with Falah, Qasim, and Aso, we walked as a group the few blocks to the Swiss Socialist Party headquarters for the first meeting of the day.  (Our planned meeting with representatives of ILO head Samovia did not materialize).

 

Friday morning:  First Planning Meeting at the Swiss Socialist Party Headquarters

 

This first meeting to plan our visit later that day to the General Secretariat of the Workers Group of the ILO was attended by the following people:  Alexandre Naor, a member of the Executive Committee of the Swiss Socialist Party in Geneva; Olivier Doriane of the ILC in France;  Jean-Pierre Borrios of the ILC in France; Daniel Gluckstein of the ILC in France; Amar Takdjout of the UGTA (the General Union of Algerian Workers) and the Algerian Workers Party, also representing ICATU (the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions); and Marie Claude Schidnower, of the ILC in France, Coordinator of the International Women’s Committee of the ILC.

 

Alexandre Naor then opened the meeting and welcomed all of us.  He stated that this was the second meeting of its kind, bringing together labor activists from different countries to support labor rights in Iraq.  He ended by stating that the Swiss Socialist Party is in full support of the Complaint submitted to the ILO by the FWCUI.  He apologized for having to excuse himself to meet with several Spanish comrades in another room in the Party headquarters.

 

Next, Daniel Gluckstein noted that this meeting continues the international campaign launched one year ago by the ILC, USLAW, and ICATU against the occupation and for labor rights in Iraq.  He gave some background on the campaign’s work in support of the Complaint lodged by the FWCUI and the UUI with the ILO Trade Union Freedom Committee against Decree #16, issued by the Iraqi Governing Council in January 2004 recognizing only one union, the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), as the sole legitimate representative of workers in Iraq.  He reported that in March of this year, when representatives of the ILC, USLAW, and ICATU met with representatives of the Workers Group of the ILO, the Workers Group representatives said generally that they were “not aware” of the situation.  Since then, a number of important steps have been taken:

 

-         In May the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) stated in its presentation to the AFL-CIO that Decree #16 was contrary to labor standards and that they have relayed this view to the Ministry of Labor in Iraq and to the IFTU. 

-         The Complaint of the FWCUI and UUI was received and recognized by the ILO Trade Union Freedom Committee. 

-         Since the initial call to support the Complaint was issued on March 15, it has been endorsed by unions around the world, representing a broad spectrum of countries and federations.

 

Daniel outlined some goals of the upcoming meeting with the Workers Group of the ILO:  We must ask for a clear response to the substance of the Complaint -- that ILO conventions aren’t being recognized and complied with in Iraq.  The ILO should demand that all conventions already adopted in Iraq be honored.  (59, in fact, have been adopted in Iraq while, interestingly enough, only 12 have been adopted in the U.S.)  Violations of human and workers’ rights are taking place daily in Iraq.  The ILO has the right to condemn a government (as they did when Poland suppressed the Solidarity movement in 1980), and should do this; Geneva Conventions #87 and #98 are not being upheld and Decree #16 is in conflict with these Conventions.  The Complaint should be circulated within the General Assembly of the ILO.

 

Falah Alwan read a written report on the economic conditions of workers, the status of organizing efforts, and the situation with labor rights in Iraq.  Neal reported on USLAW’s goals and hopes for the weekend’s meetings.

 

After discussion, the group developed a consensus on our agenda in the upcoming meeting with the Workers Group representative:

 

-         Reaffirm our position in opposition to the occupation of Iraq and in support of the principle that the Iraqi people must rule themselves.

-         Emphasize that one can’t speak of democracy in Iraq without protection of the right to organize.

-         Ask for answers to specific questions – Does the ILO recognize that their conventions are not being complied with in Iraq? What are the answers to the five questions asked by the International Campaign in March?  Will the ILO condemn the recognition of one union by the IGC in its January 28^th, 2004 decree?  Will the ILO ask that the 59 conventions adopted by Iraq be complied with?  What is the response of the Iraqi government to the UUI/FWCUI complaint?

-         Make clear that many unions around the world have endorsed the Complaint.

-         Ask what is the ILO role going forward to ensure that Iraq labor code complies with ILO conventions?

-         Request a role for the UUI/FWCUI in speaking to the ILO General Assembly.

-         Remind him that one year ago, the ILO Workers Group made a strong statement on labor rights in Iraq, and ask: what is their assessment a year later on how their statement is being adhered to?

 

Friday Afternoon:  Second Meeting at with the Office of the Secretariat of the ILO Workers Group

 

Dan Cunniah of the ILO Workers Group (note: he is also an official of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, or ICFTU) welcomed our delegation, which filled his office.  Our delegation included Olivier, Daniel, Jean-Pierre, and Marie Claude of the ILC; Luc Deley of the ILC, the Swiss Socialist Party, and the Swiss Public Service Union; Falah, Qasim and Aso of FWCUI/UUI;  Tadjout of the UGTA; and Farouk Sourig, the International Affairs Director of ICATU. 

 

Daniel Gluckstein began by laying out the points we had prepared in our earlier meeting.  He explained that the answers to our questions were even more pressing today than they had been in March, because the United Nations was now formally involved in Iraq, through the process of establishing the new Iraqi government.  He also emphasized that we were not asking the ILO to favor one labor federation over another, nor to interfere in Iraqi affairs, but rather to ensure that ILO conventions be upheld in Iraq so that the future of the Iraqi labor movement and of Iraq itself could be determined by the Iraqi workers and people.

 

Falah and Qasim gave a brief report on conditions of workers in Iraq and underscored the fact that FWCUI and UUI represent hundreds of thousands of workers but that this representation is not officially acknowledged because of Decree #16.   Farouk stated that ICATU’s strategy is to talk to all parties in Iraq and to work to build one strong trade union organization, that unity was the goal.  He reiterated ICATU’s opposition to the occupation of Iraq and support for labor rights in Iraq.  We (Neal and Katharine) spoke about the importance of supporting the Complaint from the point of view of USLAW and international labor and human rights standards.  Strong arguments were made by several members of our delegation for the circulation of the Complaint within the Workers Group.

 

Dan Cunniah replied that some of our questions reflected a misunderstanding of ILO procedures in dealing with complaints.  The FWUCI/UUI Complaint must be examined by the Trade Union Freedom Committee of the ILO Workers Group, a tripartite, juridical body which has representatives from employers, workers and governments, and which bases its conclusions on facts and figures.  The FWCUI and UUI should provide facts, examples and other data to this committee, the more extensive and more accurate the better.  They have one month from the date of the receipt of the Committee’s acknowledgment of the Complaint to do this.  The Committee will conduct a confidential investigation, including seeking a response from the Iraqi government, and will issue a report to the ILO Governing Body. The ILO will meet again in November and may deal with the Complaint at that time.  Cunniah asked for and was immediately given a copy of the FWCUI/UUI By-Laws. 

 

Cunniah explained that the Workers Group cannot circulate the Complaint because the Committee’s procedure is to preserve the confidentiality of the Complaint and response at this stage of its examination.  The FWCUI/UUI representatives cannot speak to the ILO General Assembly, only delegates may do so.  The IFTU has been sent to the ILO meeting by the Iraqi government, and the deadline for challenging their credentials has passed. 

 

Cunniah also revealed that although Iraq has a delegation at the ILO meeting, they have not paid their dues and therefore cannot vote, unless they pay their dues this week.

 

Following up on last year’s Workers Group statement on Iraq is not currently on the agenda for the Workers Group meeting, but it could be added.  There is some possibility that FWCUI/UUI representatives could address the Workers Group, so long as it did not turn into a public airing of a dispute between IFTU and FWUI/UUI.

 

When the provisions of Decree #16 were read to Cunniah, he did acknowledge that on its face, Decree #16 is in violation of ILO conventions.

 

Friday Evening:  Third Meeting at the Swiss Socialist Party Headquarters

 

This meeting was attended by all of the members of the delegation which had met with the ILO Workers Group, plus Charlie Charalambous, a Britsh trade unionist and antiwar activist.  The purpose of this meeting was to assess the results of the meeting with Dan Cunniah, lay out a strategy for advancing the Complaint, and give a sub-committee the job of writing a report from the meeting with the Secretariat.  Falah began by stating that the meeting today must be seen in a diplomatic context.  Qasim expressed concern that many of the violations of international labor standards can’t be proven in detail; many are undocumented.  For example, when Northern oil workers started to form an independent union, they were threatened with being fired if they didn’t join the Kurdish union created by the company that employed them.  There are many instances like this that are difficult to document.  Qasim suggested that they organize committees to investigate violations and invite international delegations to observe and document what they see.  He also noted that the claims made by the CPA and the Iraqi Governing Council that they are protecting the right to organize and working to solve unemployment are false.  There are no steps being taken to carry out these claims, to stop unemployment or provide support to workers; they are on paper only.  Another point made by the Iraqi representatives was that the FWCUI has helped to found new unions that the IFTU has labeled “illegal.”

 

Farouk stated that there are many unions active in Iraq and that it is a very complicated and unstable situation.  He expressed confidence that the new labor code that is being written will give the FWCUI a chance to be an officially recognized union in the future.  Farouk urged the FWCUI and UUI to write to other trade unions, particularly unions across the Arab world, to gain support for the Complaint.  He also stated that a lawyer should be brought in to draft the supporting documents for the Complaint. 

 

Neal echoed the call that all efforts be made to properly document the Complaint and to maintain the momentum of the international campaign in support of the Complaint.  He also expressed concern that the international campaign might be pigeonholed as supporting one federation over another, and emphasized the importance of maintaining our position in support of the principle that the Iraqi workers, not the government, decide their representatives.   Takdjout stated that there are obvious contradictions to ILO labor standards in Iraq that the Workers Group should recognize.  Farouk reiterated his support for the concept of the unity of all Iraqi workers. 

 

Daniel gave a detailed assessment of the meeting.  The form of the meeting was a diplomatic one which was unavoidable.  We were in the ILO building, inside a huge bureaucracy -- the United Nations bureaucracy.  The substantive content of the meeting was the following, according to Daniel:

           

1.  The legitimacy of the Complaint and of the FWCUI/UUI as bona fide trade union organizations was recognized, in that the Complaint was accepted by the Trade Union Freedom Committee, and our delegation was officially received by the Workers Group (in some cases in the past, the Workers Group has refused to meet with similar delegations).

2.  Cunniah is the second most important person in the Workers Group of the ILO.  He will have to report back to the Workers Group, including those associated with the Workers Group who have relationships with the IFTU.

3.  He said explicitly that the Complaint could be a useful tool to help with the problems of democracy in Iraq and that it should be strengthened with more facts, statistics and examples, and that it could clarify the situation for the ILO.

4. The Trade Union Freedom Committee will examine the Complaint and may make a decision by November.

5.  Cunniah acknowledged that given the war and occupation, the situation in Iraq was not a normal one.

5.  Cunniah admitted that Decree #16 is in violation of ILO conventions.

6.  He left the door open as to whether the FWCUI could address the Workers Group at some point.

7.  In March, it was easier for the ILO to wash its hands of the situation in Iraq.  Now that the UN, of which the ILO is a part, is actively engaged in Iraq, they have a clear responsibility there.

This might help us to advance the Complaint.

 

He went on to conclude that we must expand international pressure and that we must clarify that this is not a dispute between two unions but a struggle to uphold the principle of the freedom to organize.  We must broaden support for the Complaint.  We have a month to gather information for the committee of the ILO.

 

Farouk commented that we should write an open letter regarding the Complaint and labor violations in Iraq and put it on-line on the FWCUI and USLAW web pages.  Decree #16 should be written out next to the text of the ILO Conventions #89 and #98.  We should get signatories to the letter.  A copy of the report we write up should go to the Arab Labor Organization (ALO) and the International Solidarity Center (ISC) in the U.S.

 

Falah ended the meeting with this comment:  “It is a tradition among workers in Iraq to see the state as the authority in establishing unions because of our history of suppression.  This is fatal thinking by the workers.  This tradition is even more dangerous than Decree #16.”

 

Olivier was given the task of writing up the first draft of the report with translation into English by Charlie Charalambous from Britain.  We agreed to meet the next day to review and edit the draft.

                        

Saturday Morning:  Meeting with Falah, Qasim and Aso to discuss the state of trade unionism and workers’ lives in Iraq with Katharine and Neal                     

 

We met for over two hours in the hotel coffee shop and the three Iraqi trade unionists answered a number of questions that we posed.  It was a fascinating and informative meeting, and we could have gone on for another two or three hours, but they had another meeting scheduled right after ours.  At the end of our session, we took a number of photos of the two of us handing them the monetary contribution (certificate) from USLAW. 

 

To begin, when asked about labor rights/laws in Iraq, they told us that in general there is no new labor code.  All the old laws are in place, which state that public employees are “civil servants” in Iraq without any labor rights, and there are no laws in the private sector to affirmatively protect workers’ right to organize, strike,  and bargain collectively.  All work is based on daily wages with no contracts between workers and employers.  There are no authorities who supervise the implementation of the existing labor laws, however, and there is no new official prohibition against the right to organize other than the old Bathist laws that are still in place.  The CPA doesn’t make any statements either way, however workers have been harrassed in many ways, usually threatened with arrest or layoffs.

                         

One example:  Jay Hoffman, the CPA advisor to the Health Ministry threatened to arrest health workers and told them that their union was illegal.  He announced this publicly.  All the workers left the union except the activists.  The FWCUI collected 4.000 signatures on petitions but Hoffman told workers that they owed money for some stolen medical equipment (lost during street fighting) and had to repay this with their wages.  Protest leaders were threatened with arrest and they all backed down.  This is just one example of what often happens.

                         

Although the CPA and the interim government make seemingly progressive decisions and publish them in newspapers, they are never implemented, no documents are written, and they continue to use the old system and laws.  For example, a worker at a candy factory requested that workers be able to leave work one hour early because of street fighting.  Other workers supported his demand.  The employer answered:  either all of you leave or stop protesting and you can all stay.  They all stayed and subsequently the employee who made the demand was fired.  Another example:  two oil workers who were temporary workers asked to be made permanent.  They were threatened with being fired.  They wrote an appeal to the FWCUI whose legal representative wrote an appeal for them in court.  Nothing changed and they remained temporary.

 

Another example of the CPA’s attitude toward unions:   CPA representative, Steven Spears, met with the UUI 13 different times on labor matters.  He told Qasim, the UUI General Secretary, that if they changed their name to "committee", to anything but "union", the CPA would be more likely to cooperate with them.  In some places, they are actually using the word "committee" when workers organize.

                        

About the role of the FWCUI:  the federation helps any union or any collection of workers even if they are in a different federation.  There is little organized structure for trade unions in Iraq -- that protests and strikes take place with or without unions and that they are almost always for urgent demands -- wages, jobs, hours.  FWCUI gets involved and tries to establish a union when one doesn’t exist. 

 

They made it clear that much of the union activity in Iraq is in the beginning stages.  There are some labor leaders in the south in oil related industries who are more established.  They have no link to political parties, and FWCUI has good relations with them.  The UUI is well known because of protests they have organized and they are consulted often.  Workers ask for letters of support or certification.  FWCUI has a lawyer available.  Most appeals are about firings. 

                         

In general, 35 years of fear and suppression have lowered workers´ confidence and activism and they feel very weak.  Every aspect of normal living has been destroyed by the occupation.  No basic needs are being met.  Workers´ confidence must be rebuilt.  An example of this:  in Basra the teachers’ union is 16,000 + strong and they want to join the FWCUI.  They do need the FWCUI to defend them, but they could be much stronger and more effective with more confidence and a higher level of internal organization.   

                         

Out of more than 10 million unemployed the UUI has organized “only 350,000.”  We commented that this seemed like a lot, but they were discouraged that more people weren’t organized.  Most protests in the street draw about 2,000 people.  The largest, in Nasariya, drew 6,000.

                         

We asked them some questions about daily life in Iraq for working people.  The minimum wage is as low as $60 month, with average wages ranging from $60 to $120 month, or $2 to $4 per day.  A kilo of potatoes costs 50 cents; a kilo of meat costs $5.00.  The Food for Oil program supplies very bad quality food. 

 

There is 70-80% unemployment, and a total absence of welfare and social services.  Public hospital conditions are very poor, and there aren’t enough doctors.  The wealthy have hospital care, but the poor line up in the streets and the conditions in the hospitals are horrible.  For example, in one public hospital there were no clean sheets because all of the sheets were used to bind bloody wounds from injuries during street fighting and bombings.  People were put on uncovered mattresses until they could get more sheets from a textile factory.

                         

The UUI organized a campaign to contact doctors -- over 75 gave free medical help in Kirkut and Baghdad.  Over 15 operations were done for free for the unemployed.  Medicine was offered cheaply to UUI members.  The UUI received three appeals from doctors saying that Islamic gangs are trying to establish that women be treated separately from men for medical care.

                         

In a typical 24 hour period, there are only 8-10 hours of electricity a day.  The CPA cuts down electricity when there is a bombing as a form of persecution of the people.  Lack of electricity is a major crisis. The CPA has said it will be improved, but there has been no improvement.

                         

In terms of their political role, the FWCUI and UUI were the first to protest against the occupation.  Their demand is for an immediate end to the occupation, with UN forces to replace the US for a limited time as peacekeepers until the Iraqi people elect their own government.  The UN should supervise the election.  They stand for political freedom for all political tendencies in Iraq.  They demand a secular government with separation of religion from the state as well as freedom of religion.  The militias must all be dissolved.  They believe that a Socialist state is the best solution in the long run but that conditions aren’t ripe for that transformation of society, so a secular government is the priority at the moment.  According to Falah, at this time, “It is not revolutionary conditions.”

                         

Their analysis is that two international forces (Political Islam and US imperialism) are using Iraq as a battlefield. The United States invaded and occupied Iraq in order to establish American hegemony; the Islamist military resistance to the occupation is politically reactionary, aiming to establish an Islamic republic in Iraq. The conflict has a regional and international context, not specific to Iraq alone. Iraqi trade unions represent the leading edge of a third force, that of secular civil society (unions, organizations of the unemployed, students, etc.) that can be the basis for building a secular, socially just Iraq.  The illegal occupation is the major pretext for the violence of political Islam.   And the Islamist insurgents have killed even more Iraqis than the US war and occupation.  Neither offers any solution to the problems of the Iraqi people. 

            

The Iraqi Governing Council was handpicked by the United States and established on the basis of ethnic and religious groups.  The new Interim Government is an extension of the IGC, and its key leaders are agents of the CIA, offering no progress for Iraq.  The United States and other coalition forces should have no role in any future UN engagement in Iraq.

 

At this point, we ran out of time.  We had asked questions about education and the role of women but never had a chance to cover these topics.  The Iraqis were incredibly generous with their time and gave in-depth and thoughtful answers to all of our questions.  Their serious commitment to the struggle is impressive.

 

Saturday Afternoon:  Meeting to review the draft of the report of the meeting with the Secretariat of the ILO Workers’ Group, at the Swiss Socialist Party Headquarters

 

Pretty much the same group who met with Dan Cunniah met to review Olivier’s draft which was translated into English by Charlie.  A number of editorial, format and content suggestions were made by participants and Olivier subsequently produced an edited version of which USLAW should already have a copy.

 

 

Sunday All Day:  ILC International Conference in Defense of ILO Conventions, Against the Occupation, and for Labor Rights in Iraq

 

This assembly was attended by over 100 labor activists from many countries around the world.  Katharine and Neal were the only representatives from the US.  We were asked to sit on the platform in order to represent USLAW.

 

The meeting began with a welcome and opening remarks by Luc Deley of the Swiss Socialist Party and the ILC and from Daniel Gluckstein of the ILC.  Luc stated that this meeting was in defense of the ILO conventions and for the independence of trade unions around the world. 

 

Daniel said that it was the 11th year of the conference in defense of ILO conventions.  For 90 years, the ILO had represented a tripartite system -- workers, employers and member states.  A convention, once adopted, has the force of law in a member state.  Conventions become points of reference even when they are not ratified.  Unions fight for their enforcement.  It’s not a perfect process but the basic principles are central to democracy.  It recognizes the class struggle and conflicting interests between the ruling classes and the workers.  Basic principles are at stake now because of the social dimensions of globalization -- the “new world governance” of the IMF, WTO and the World Bank.  One example of this struggle is in France where unions are being co-opted into losing the social security system.  Everywhere, globalization and corporate interests attack workers’ rights.  Since 1998, the ILO has given up their traditional procedure of ratification of conventions.  They are now called Basic Standards and Rights, and the procedure is different.  Seven basic standards are to be ratified by big corporations, which transfers responsibility from member states to multinational corporations under “codes of good conduct.”  Authority is given to NGOs funded by corporations to enforce these codes of conduct.  For example, Nike’s charter in China supposedly informs workers of their rights, but there is no recognition of unions, workers’ rights, etc. and the workers are kept on a schedule that gives them no time for union training.  The idea is to replace unions with organizations in civil society in order to create more “flexibility” for employers.  We must return to the basic principles of the ILO and reaffirm the necessary independence of trade unions.  Governance must be rejected in favour of enforceable labor standards.

 

Daniel went on to give some background on the Complaint for labor rights and the need for recognition of more than one union in Iraq.  He stated that this is not simply an Iraqi problem but a breach of law.  Workers cannot be banned from forming unions.  We must broaden our support for Iraqi workers.

 

The rest of the day was spent listening to presentations from trade union activists around the world, representing a wide range of countries including France, India, Great Britain, Ukraine, Burkino Faso, Serbia, Spain, Ivory Coast, Germany, Lebanon, Syria, Algeria, Turkey, and Guadalupe.  The commonalities of the struggles taking place in each country against privatization, weakening of labor and social standards, and war were hard to miss.  We made a short presentation from USLAW and in support of the Complaint.  We gave some background on the history of USLAW, the task forces that have been set up, and our commitment to ending the occupation and educating the working people of the US about the conditions of workers in Iraq.

 

Daniel summed up the day’s presentations, explaining the ILC’s method of serving as a forum for activists introducing campaigns and issues.  The conference doesn’t vote on a unified program, rather activists are free to support and participate in the campaigns that they choose.  He related a story of meeting a Senegalese trade unionist at the ILO on Friday who wasn’t in Geneva last year because he was in jail.  The ILO had mounted a campaign to free him, and in part because of this work, this trade unionist was here in Geneva today. 

 

He pointed to three important proposals that had been raised at the conference: organizing trade unions around the world to communicate with the ILO and with Iraqi trade unionists rejecting Decree #16; circulating the Complaint for signature by trade unionists around the world; and a proposal by the Turkish comrade to collect medicine in the United States for Iraqi workers, which Daniel referred to Katharine and Neal to take back for consideration by USLAW.

 

Daniel called for vigilant struggle to oppose the concept of “governance” which changes and undermines the basic nature of the ILO conventions.  He ended by recognizing the triumph of antiwar forces in the Spanish elections and the subsequent withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq, and the Swiss Socialist Party’s defeat of pension reform by popular referendum as proof that victory is possible!     

 

During lunch, Katharine attended a meeting of the ILC Women’s Commission led by Marie Claude Schidnower.  The meeting focused on the idea of disseminating information and gaining support for the rights of women in Iraq.  Aso Jabbar made a presentation on the work he has done in this area. 

 

Aso stated that the Islamic code is the basis of the civil code in Iraq which is repressive for women.  There were strong protests and a campaign organized by the FWCUI against this code in March 2004 and, as a result, this section of the code was cancelled.  In June 2003 the Organization of Women’s Freedom was established.  Shelters for women were opened several years ago, but in 2002 they were closed in Kurdistan.  Islamic groups and the Kurdistan National Party cooperated to close the women’s shelters.  They still exist in Baghdad, Kirkuk and in other cities.  A newspaper for women, Equality, is being published in Baghdad.  The UUI is running a campaign to grant housewives unemployment insurance or jobs.  A webpage in English and Arabic focused on women’s issues has been created -- www.equalityiniraq.com.  The group agreed that we should produce an information sheet on issues that affect Iraqi women and help to create dialogue with women in other countries.

 

In my opinion (Katharine), this could be a powerful way to get American trade union women involved in the antiwar struggle in Iraq.  I will attach a draft of a document I received from Aso on the subject of the rights of women in Iraq.