Abdullah Muhsin explains why Hadi Salehs work must live on

Iraqs trade union movement was once one of the largest and strongest in the Arab world, but its independence was brutally crushed by Saddam Husseins regime, leaving a yellow union structure in its place which worked for the regime rather than for working people.

A group of clandestine and exiled activists kept the notion of free and independent unions alive, at a great cost, during Saddam's bloody reign. One of their leaders was Hadi Saleh, who returned to Iraq prior to the 2003 invasion to rebuild the trade union movement and who took on the role of international secretary.

Hadi was brutally tortured and murdered in Baghdad in January 2005 and, today, the TUC is publishing a booklet which tells his story and that of the Iraqi trade union movement in which he played such a leading role.

Following the fall of Saddam's dictatorship, on May 16 2003, Hadi and other activists in the Workers' Democratic Trade Union Movement formed the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) with over 200,000 members.

Last September, the IFTU agreed to merge with other smaller federations - successors of the state-run unions whose leaders had renounced Saddam's brand of Ba'athism and another supported by Islamic parties to form the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW).

This merged organisation, which does not cover Iraqi Kurdistan, where unions have been operating freely for a decade and a half, has been recognised by the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions as well as the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, to which the TUC belongs. Other trade unions in Iraq based on professions, like the teachers' union, are working closely with the GFIW on issues such as labour laws.

The GFIW is striving to build independent, democratic and pluralistic unions and believes that workers should be free to join the union of their choice. We are campaigning for a labour code that adheres to the ILO core conventions and we are campaigning for economic, social and political advances. We want unions positioned to engage fully not only over pay and working conditions but as a key partner in the formation and consolidation of a federal, prosperous and democratic Iraq controlling its own future.

Given the tragic history of Iraq and its labour movement and, now, also the threat of extremism, the new Iraq must be built on three pillars - a strong state based on democratic governance, a vibrant civil society in which unions will play a key role and a growing economy based on social justice.

All of this is being constructed, but requires careful handling by Iraq's accountable government and elected assembly. Social partnership between the Iraqi state, its people and the international community is essential for the success of the project of the democratisation of Iraq.

Civil society must be encouraged to develop independently of state and political influence. Unions are the heart of civil society and should not be hindered by Iraq's government - we need a new labour code to replace Saddam's and we need to be freed from state intervention as provided for by the infamous Decree 8750 of last summer.

Unions are not the voice of a single ideology, but are the glue that binds different communities together for the improvement of social, economic and political conditions. Free and independent unions in Iraq are fundamental to Iraqi stability and security. The GFIW is one of the few civil society organisations - and by far the largest - which organises regardless of race, nationality and religion, gender and ethnicity.

Hadi Saleh campaigned for all this and more, both in his years of exile after imprisonment and a death sentence, which was eventually carried out in the most gruesome fashion.

Since his death, the attempts by extremists to silence the Iraqi trade union movement and workers generally have intensified.

Independent trade unions are considered a threat because they represent stability and secularism but also because they are an alternative centre of power. Workers loyal to their unions are less easy for other people to control.

Workers generally suffer from the terrorist attacks, which are often reported as mere sectarianism by the Western media.

Teachers are attacked for teaching about human rights, workers in essential industries are attacked for alleged collaboration with the state, when what they are doing is providing the public services that ordinary Iraqis need.

Hadi's legacy is a free, independent trade union movement in a free, independent Iraq. By remembering his legacy, the TUC is promoting those objectives and they will be using the booklet that Alan Johnson and I have written to raise awareness and also funds so that the fledgling Iraqi trade union movement can pursue those objectives on behalf of the workers - all the workers - of Iraq.

- Hadi Never Died: Hadi Saleh and the Iraqi Trade Unions by Abdullah Muhsin and Labour Friends of Iraq publications director and www.democratiya.com editor Alan Johnson is available online at www.tuc.org.uk/publications or by phone on (020) 7467-1294 for £10. Bulk discounts are available. Profits will go to the TUC Aid for Iraq Appeal.