Iraq Trade union movement

[Joel Wendland <joelrw@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From In These Times. Unfortunately this author has the name of the union's
federation wrong. What Reingold calls the Workers? Democratic Trade Union
Federation is actually the Iraqi Federation of Workers Trade Unions (IFTU).
http://www.iraqitradeunions.org/

-Joel Wendland

http://inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=701_0_2_0_C


Hassan Jum?a is an impressive negotiator. As head of the 10,000-member
Southern Oil Company Union in Iraq, last December he successfully challenged
the hiring and wage policies of Al Khorafi, a Kuwaiti subcontractor for the
U.S. construction giant Bechtel and the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown
& Root (KBR). Jum?a?s union first flexed its muscles against Al Khorafi in
October, when its members launched a two-day wildcat strike at the
Bergeseeya oil refinery in Basra. They literally dragged out the
predominantly Pakistani and Indian workforce Al Khorafi had imported and
demanded that the company hire Iraqi workers in their place.

Union members also protested at Al Khorafi?s headquarters, and tribal
leaders topped off the strike by threatening to bomb the company?s offices.
Jum?a?s strong-arm tactics paid off, and his union now controls access to
all Southern Oil locations, barring all foreign workers and KBR
representatives. Al Khorafi, the largest subcontractor in Iraq, is now doing
its best to placate the powerful union. The company is paying wages of $125
per month?more than three times the state-enterprise minimum wage level set
by Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) administrator Paul Bremer. Al
Khorafi even donated wheelchairs, blankets, computers, and desks to the
union and renovated a private hospital for Khorafi employees, according to
Occupation Watch, an NGO in close contact with the union.

more at: http://inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=701_0_2_0_C

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