(reposted from US Labor Against the War)
This disturbing news (see below) arrived today from the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI).
Please contact the Iraqi Embassy in Washington, DC, and copy Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, and the International Labour Organization of the U.N. to register your strong protest. Demand that Himyar Salih Iqaal be immediately released and that no harm come to him. (Find contact information below.)
Actions such as this that harass and terrorize trade unionists are a gross violation of human rights and international law, including the conventions on the rights of workers of the International Labour Organization of the U.N. Iraq is a signatory to Convention 98 on the rights to organize and bargain.
The new Iraqi constitution calls for the adoption of a basic labor law that protects workers’ rights. The Parliament has failed to adopt such a law.
The Maliki government continues to enforce Saddam Hussein’s antiunion laws and decrees adopted by the U.S. occupation authority and interim governing authority after the overthrow of the dictatorship.
Iraq cannot claim to be on the path to a real democracy so long as workers are not free to organize, bargain and strike without government harassment, interference or control.
PS: Kindly send copies of your communications to –
and
Falah Alwan, President, FWCUI
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