Labour Friends of Iraq

Iraq is suffering a dearth of nurses. Those who could afford to have already fled to neighbouring countries. Those with working husbands stay at home, afraid of the escalating violence. But the rest must soldier on in their fight against fear and poverty.

Conference calls on EU to maintain sanctions against President Mugabes regime.

Handing over control to Iraqi security forces is excellent news but grassroots solidarity remains pressing. More should support the TUC appeal for second hand mobiles for Iraqi union organisers and emulate, for example, Unison and the Fire Brigades Union in providing practical and moral solidarity to unions whose growth after having been pulverised by Saddam Hussein is an inspiration and whose consciously non-sectarian approach could do much to build a democratic, federal and pluralist Iraq.
Gary Kent
Director Labour Friends of Iraq

Teachers should be guaranteed a safe and secure working environment, says EI in a letter to the President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani. Since February this year, 180 teachers have been killed and up to 100 have been kidnapped.

The Fire Brigades Union has protested against the accidental killing of 4 firefighters in Fallujah by US troops.

Ann Clwyd has emphasised after a speech at Wellesley College near Boston that an early withdrawal of troops from Iraq would accelerate rights abuses against ordinary Iraqis and that the Iraqi government should press harder to investigate police abuses, weed out corruption and free thousands of mostly Sunni prisoners in Iraqi prisons.

The TUC has issued a message of solidarity from Brendan Barber.
Responding to the kidnapping of Ministry of Education officials in Baghdad this week (not all of whom have been released as yet), TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber has sent the following message of solidarity with Iraqi workers and teachers.
‘This cowardly attack on some of the people most involved in keeping the education system going is a terrible reminder of the persistent persecution being suffered by workers and academics in Iraq. Workers in the education sector are in the front line, facing intimidation, harassment and sometimes death, all for the simple reason that they are trying to bring enlightenment, empowerment and education to Iraq’s children and young people.
‘British trade unionists have little experience of the pressures under which Iraqi workers and educationalists operate every day, but we stand in solidarity with them in their struggle to build a new Iraq – non-sectarian, non-discriminatory and free.
‘We call on the government of Iraq to take the steps necessary to prevent sectarian and other violence against people at work, and to restore the freedoms that they should have to join the trade unions of their choice and to bargain collectively.’
Last year, a delegation of Iraqi teacher union representatives (along with their colleagues from Iraqi Kurdistan) visited the TUC as guests of British teaching unions. They explained how teachers were targeted by terrorists for teaching about human rights, secularism and equality, as well as for ‘co-operating’ with the government of Iraq. Recently, the number of attacks on teachers in schools and universities has increased as sectarian disputes have been added to the so-called insurgency – developments which affect workers in many others sectors too.
Brendan Barber’s message of support was sent to the General Federation of Iraqi Workers, representing Iraqi workers generally, and to the Iraqi Teachers’ Union which covers teachers in schools and colleges. The TUC has an Iraq Solidarity Committee chaired by General Council member Sue Rogers who is National Treasurer of the teachers’ union NASUWT.

Roger Darlington reports on tonights successful screening at the Commons of a poignant film on atrocities under Saddam and rightly says you should all watch it on Monday 20th November at 8pm on Channel 4. Nuff said. Gary Kent

Austrian Airlines has become the first European carrier to offer scheduled flights to Erbil – the fourth biggest city in Iraq and the focus for United Nations regeneration plans.

Iraqi Chief Justice Madhat Al-Mahmood has emphasised how much the
judiciary has improved in recent years. The number of female judges, for
example, has risen from five under Saddam to 28.