Campaigning for free unions in Iraq

Abdullah Muhsin the international representative of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) called on the Iraqi government to abolish the 1987 law passed by the toppled Saddam regime and to implement the new labour code for workers.

He said Saddam's law of 1987 which effectively banned trade unions in the public sector has still not been abolished. He also called for the repeal of code 8750 passed by the former Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim Jafari saying it froze rights of workers.

"The trade union movement in Iraq is besieged in some sense," he said Muhsin said the IFTU which was established in 2003 has 200,000 members today.

The Iraqi trade unionist estimated the current unemployment rate in Iraq between 40-45 percent.

He noted that the public sector in Iraq employed the largest number of workers, followed by construction, oil and transport.