Iraqi union leaders - a different voice from Iraq

(6/22/2005) -- “Stop the privatization of oil and other major Iraqi industries…. The forces occupying Iraq should leave immediately…. A free trade union movement is an absolute requirement for a democratic Iraq…. Halliburton and KBR are bad companies….” - Statements made by Iraqi trade union leaders

On Wednesday, hundreds of us listened to a different voice on Iraq – a voice rarely heard – the voice of Iraqi trade unionists. In Portland for the day were Hassan Juma'a Awad Al Asade, chief of the Executive Branch of General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE) in Basra and Faleh Abbood Umara, the General Secretary of the General Union of Oil Employees. The two men spoke at several events during the day including a large evening forum attended by 400 - 450 union and community members.

Warmly welcomed with a standing ovation, the Iraqi union leaders told the evening crowd of their struggles to recreate a union movement which Sadaam Hussein made illegal and which continues to be treated as illegal under the occupation.

Speaking through an interpreter, AL Asade described the struggle in 2003 to preserve jobs for Iraqi workers at the Basra oil refinery. Halliburton subsidiary KBR brought in fifteen hundred foreign workers while experienced Iraqis were out of work. The GUOE and its members struck for two days, forcing the company to back off and hire Iraqis.

The union leaders highlighted their continuing fight along with other Iraqi unions against privatization of the oil industry. They described the dockworkers' successful effort to rid the port of Um Qasr of the presence of foreign corporations, Stevedoring Services of America and Maersk Shipping Co. Privatization is strongly opposed in part, they say, because of Iraq's high unemployment rate -- 50% nationwide and as high as 70% in some areas.

When the subject of occupation came up, Al Asade and Umara were unequivocal. The US and occupying forces should withdraw immediately and leave the rebuilding and resolution of internal conflict up to Iraqis. When questioned about the sectarian conflict, Al Asade said that the rivalries were largely the invention of the Western media and pointed to his marriage – his wife a Sunni and he a Shiite.

When asked about the status of women in the Iraqi trade union movement, AL Asade prefaced his comments by stating that being a union member is a dangerous thing to be – that killings and death threats are common. He went on to say that the head of the engineering union in Basra is a woman and that his own union has 15 women on staff.

The Iraqi union leaders were in Portland as part of 9-day trip visiting 8 cities. Four other Iraqi union leaders have been doing similar speaking tours on the East Coast and in the Midwest. Both Portland visitors said they were surprised at the support of Americans for their cause and were moved by their reception in the US.