TUC calling for protests
The TUC has called for protests to be aimed at the Iraqi Embassy in London over attempts by the Iraqi Government to seize control of the Iraqi Teachers Union (ITU).
Urging trade union members to email their protest to the Iraqi Ambassador, the Chair of the TUC Iraq Solidarity Committee and Treasurer of teacher union NASUWT Sue Rogers said:
‘The Iraqi Government is acting like Saddam Hussein, treating unions as the property of the state. Iraqi trade unionists and teacher trade unions around the world are outraged at this latest attempt to seize control of our sister union.
‘The Government has demanded that the union hand over the keys to its buildings, its membership lists, and is demanding that the existing leaders stand down or face jail sentences of three to seven years despite doing nothing wrong. This is a breach of fundamental human and trade union rights. The Iraqi Government must not be allowed to act in this dictatorial way.’
Sue Rogers is leading a TUC delegation at a workshop in Erbil, Iraq for trade union leaders from all over Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. Yesterday Iraqi trade unions issued a joint statement of solidarity with the ITU, who have angered some in the Iraqi administration by securing substantial pay rises for teachers after a series of strikes and demonstrations last year.
The statement, signed by the leaders of the main Iraqi trade union confederation and the two Kurdish confederations, as well as the Kurdish Teachers Union and the powerful oil unions of Southern Iraq, appears in the Notes to Editors below.
ITU President Jasim al-Lami, who has been invited to the NASUWT conference this April, was yesterday travelling back from the workshop to meet with Ministers in Baghdad. Mr al-Lami was jailed for six years in Abu Ghraib under Saddam Hussein and says he is ready to face jail again to defend his union.
Protests by global trade unions have already been lodged with the International Labour Organisation which last year censured Iraq for its anti-union laws, some of which have been left over from Saddam Hussein. The TUC has also written to Ministers in the UK.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
– Erbil Declaration of Solidarity with the Iraqi teachers’ union
We, the leaders of the trade union movement throughout Iraq – including Iraqi Kurdistan – meeting with our international colleagues in Erbil, condemn the harassment and threats directed at the Iraqi Teachers’ Union and their democratically-elected leaders.
This action is an attack on fundamental human rights and contrary to your Government’s obligation to uphold the ILO core conventions, including Convention 87 on Freedom of Association.
We call on the Iraqi Government to respect the right of the Iraqi Teachers’ Union to decide its own leadership in accordance with its own rules. We call on you to withdraw your threats to imprison Iraqi Teachers’ Union leaders and to desist from your attempts to seize the assets, membership lists and documentation of the Iraqi Teachers’ Union.
We reject your attempt to seize the union and express our solidarity with the membership and leadership of the Iraqi Teachers’ Union.
Failure to respond positively can only result in a major campaign – across Iraq and around the world – to highlight your Government’s appalling action.
We are copying this letter to the President and Prime Minister of Iraq and making it public.
Signed by
General Federation of Iraqi Workers
Kurdistan Workers Union
General Workers and Crafts Syndicate Union of Kurdistan
Kurdistan Journalists Union/Iraq
Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions
Kurdistan Teachers Union/Iraq