Morning Star - 7 August 2004 Iraqi Trade unionist urges end to occupation

IRAQI trade unionist Abdullah Mushen demanded an end to the occupation and a 'sovereign and democratic Iraq' in central London on Thursday night.

At a packed meeting organised by Camden branch of UNISON, Mr Mushen, who is London representative of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), described how, under Saddam Hussein, the Ba’athist dictatorship turned the IFTU into a 'yellow union' and a 'tool of oppression.

'It was used to spy on workers and its offices became centres of torture and interrogation where many were murdered,' he noted.

Iraqis fought back, launching the illegal Workers Democratic Trade Union Movement in 1980, which organised widespread strikes and protests.

'In 1984,' Mr Mushen continued, 'the movement organised a huge tobacco workers’ strike, but it was brutally crushed and its leaders were executed.'

Mr Mushen and many other workers’ leaders fled the country, but returned early last year to rebuild Iraq’s trade union movement in the face of harassment from the new oppressors, the occupation forces.

Since the relaunch of the IFTU last May, 12 new independent trade unions have been set up covering the country’s various industrial sectors, organising vigorous workplace recruitment campaigns.

Mr Mushen stressed that, while the struggle to rebuild the workers’ movement faces daily opposition from the occupation forces, workers are striking back.

'The IFTU office in Baghdad, which was closed down by the US military last December, is now open again,' he said, explaining that the Transport and Communications Union had organised a march on the office last month and had reclaimed and reopened the office themselves.

As well as direct actions such as these, along with strikes and other protests, the IFTU is fighting for a new 'labour code' encompassing workers’ rights into the new constitution.

Another crucial area of struggle is the fight against unemployment. Official figures stand at a shocking 28 per cent, but, according to Mr Mushen, the true figure could be as high as 50 per cent.

'Our country’s history is rich in popular democratic struggle,' he said. 'The job of the IFTU is to reclaim that tradition and lead the struggle for a strong, democratic and secular Iraq.'

Appealing for support from Britain’s trade unionists, he vowed: 'With the solidarity from the international labour movement, our people can achieve these goals.'



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'Morning Star' - 5 August 2004 Features Keeping hope alive

INTERVIEW: Iraqi trade unionist Subhi Abdullah Mashadani talks to the Morning Star about the rebuilding of a labour movement.

IRAQI Subhi Abdullah Mashadani experienced the brutal repression of Saddam Hussein’s regime at first hand.

But, after the dictatorship’s collapse, he was vocal in the campaign to establish a new free labour federation. His work was rewarded last year, when he was elected as the first general secretary of the democratic Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU).

An invitation from RMT to address its conference brought Mr Mashadani to Britain, where he also addressed the UNISON conference and was, in his words, 'warmly received.'

Here, he speaks to the Star about the situation facing Iraq’s fledgling labour federation, the IFTU.

In 1963, when Mr Mashadani was a rail worker, he was arrested by Saddam’s Ba’ath Party because of his political activism and imprisoned for eight years.

Now retired, he was one of the many progressive Iraqis forced to operate underground inside their country before the fall of the regime.

Today, committed trade unionists like Mr Mashadani, operating on a shoestring in a population with little experience of the true history and role of the unions, have formed the IFTU.

It’s fighting its corner in a country under occupation. Workers’ rights weren’t on the agenda of the colonial mandarins at the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority.

He describes the occupiers’ attitude as 'negative,' adding that then US viceroy Paul Bremer had refused a request to unfreeze IFTU assets so that the federation could carry out trade union work.

'We said: ‘It is not Bremer’s money, it is not CPA money - it is our money‚' he recounts.

The federation never heard from Bremer on this request, says Mr Mashadani. 'What we received after that meeting with them was their forces raiding the IFTU headquarters in Baghdad and arresting eight leaders.'

They were released eventually, but this incident spurred on the organisers of Iraq’s new trade unions.

'We continued to organise and we now have 12 strong national unions,' he says.

Lack of security and the - interlinked - occupation, which is designed to cement the US presence in this highly strategic, mineral-rich region, have combined to hinder IFTU activities.

'The governing council issued a decree recognising us as a legitimate body. Again, did not agree or adhere to that. 'But we weren’t deterred,' he adds.

Of the 12 unions in the IFTU, six have already held conferences and elected a host of regional committees.

The other six are unable to hold theirs because of a 1987 law passed by Saddam banning trade union organisation in state companies such as the oil sector and the railways. It is still being enforced.

Despite this, explains Mr Mashadani, 'these unions managed to impose their legitimacy (in the workplace) because they were supported by the workers.'

He is hopeful that the current tortuous political process inside and outside Iraq will bring a positive result - but has reservations and sets out IFTU demands.

'It’s a step forward. It is good, but it is not the best model and still has some deficiencies,' he says.

He demands: 'We call for Iraq to have real and full sovereignty.

'We call for the withdrawal of troops and at the same time a full and accountable elected government for the people 'Crucially, the United Nations should now have an active role.'

Mr Mashadani adds: 'We are campaigning for trade unions to be able to play a role in the institutions of civil society that would make a future government.'

The IFTU has representatives involved in the process to establish a transitional government.

The federation’s general secretary is confident that its role will be respected despite the heavy US influence in Iraq.

The transitional administrative law governing the current period safeguarded the position of trade unions and the right to protest.

However, doubts were raised when the UN resolution on the 'handover' of sovereignty, which sought to legitimise continued occupation but also set out a framework to bring about nationwide elections, failed to mention the transitional law.

Mr Mashadani points out that Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi has said 'openly that his government should adhere to the transitional law.

'If the government or anybody restricts our work to organise and to have representation we shall campaign against it. We shall not be intimidated,' he adds.

Despite being severely under-resourced and restricted by the situation in Iraq, IFTU unions have netted some welcome management concessions for members.

At several big firms, they have negotiated better deals - both increases to wages and bonuses.

And, in the state oil, gas and railway sectors, members have defied the ban on organising and emerged victorious.

Minimum wages for these workers have increased from 69,000 dinars to between 125,000 and 150,000 dinars a month.

The unions have also forced managers to reinstate around 450 workers who had been expelled by the former regime.

The scourge of unemployment makes it easier for bosses to abuse their employees. As Mr Mashadani complains, 'a free market is a free market.'

But on the issue of the foreign workers currently earning big money by working for transnational contractors in Iraq, he pleads: 'We have no problem with our brothers and sisters coming to work, but we have a bigger problem ourselves.

'It is crucial for the people of Iraq to have the right to a job before workers from abroad.'

Since the Iraqi governing council recognised the IFTU, it has been allowed to sit on government committees dealing with the new labour code, social provision and pensions - both of which were enshrined in the transitional administrative law - as well as those dealing with health and dismissals.

Mr Mashadani is keen to emphasise the independence of the IFTU from the state - understandable, given the subservience of Saddam’s collaborationist 'yellow unions.'

'Although we sit on some committees, we do so because we want to keep an eye on the situation, to have a stronger say in the welfare of working people,' he says.

However, the challenges facing the fledgling federation are great.

Like many of the country’s civil institutions, trade unionists run the risk of becoming targets for occupation forces or reactionaries within Iraq.

Mr Mashadani explains that visits like his 'are crucial to get an understanding of Iraq’s labour movement.'

But more solid assistance is required if the IFTU is to flourish within the country’s changing political landscape.

The dictatorship has left behind a generation that fails to grasp the principles of trade unionism.

Already, as well as assistance from RMT, UNISON has adopted a policy of supporting the IFTU and hopes to bring a delegation of its members to Britain for training.

'We have also received support in Spain and France,' says Mr Mashadani.

He highlights the assistance given by the AFL-CIO office in Amman and plans to set up training schools for the Iraqi labour movement, which 'could, maybe, be held in Jordan.'

Workers in Sweden have, he says, 'also assisted us to open a training course in Iraq to inform people the history and role of trade unionism.'

And there’s another innovative plan, which is grounded in the theatre-based storytelling tradition in Iraq.

After the interview, Abdullah Muhsin, the IFTU representative in London and acting translator for the day, was so keen to publicise this project that he chased after me in the street to give me extra details.

At the UNISON conference, the IFTU launched the Khalil Shawqi Appeal.

Named after a progressive Iraqi actor, artist and playwright who also worked on the railways, it is raising funds to take travelling theatres to every workplace in Iraq.

'The purpose is to raise awareness for the whole of civil society and democracy and at the same time to tell people what a union is,' explains Mr Muhsin.

The first step in this ambitious plan is buying a bus and the IFTU is appealing for British trade unionists to get involved.

Hope still survives in Iraq, but help is needed if it is to be kept alive.

Interview by Richard Bagley

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