Fair Dinkum! Aussie Union Shows the Way on Solidarity

The Australian Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU) has been running a campaign drive to get Iraqi LHMU members to register and vote in the Iraqi election.

National President Helen Creed said, “The recent brutal murder of Hadi Saleh, a top official of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions ( IFTU), demonstrates that those who oppose workers' rights are too often the same group who are now terrorising the people of Iraq. The building of a democratic civil society will be an important step on the road to re-building democratic trade unions in Iraq - that's why we urge our members who are eligible to vote to go and register right now. Our position is similar to the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions, like them we remain critical of the US-led invasion. But the IFTU advocates that union members ignore the threats from religious fanatics and the Saddamists and go out and vote in the coming election".

Voices like Helen Creed, and Alex Gordon of the RMT in this country, are increasingly setting the tone for trade unionists around the world.(AJ)