Open
World Conference of Workers
In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights
March 19, 2004
1) Iraqi Labor Rights: Urgent Support for "Dear Colleague" Letter is Needed!
2) HELP IRAQI WORKERS GET THEIR JOBS BACK!
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Iraqi
Labor Rights: Urgent Support for "Dear Colleague" Letter is
Needed!
Dear Friends and Supporters of the OWC:
We are writing to request your help garnering support from your
Congressional representatives to a "Dear Colleague" letter
calling for labor rights in Iraq.
The "Dear Colleague" letter below has been endorsed so far by 19
members of Congress. The letter calls on other members of Congress to
endorse a letter to Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Bremer to demand jobs, a
living wage and labor rights for the working people of Iraq. [That letter
is also reprinted below.]
US Labor Against the War, which has taken the initiative to promote this
letter, asks all unionists and supporters of labor rights to contact your
Congressional representative this week urging them to sign on to the
letter to Rumsfeld and Bremer. The cutoff date for gathering signatures
from members of Congress is Friday, April 2nd -- so USLAW needs your
immediate support to expand the list of Congressional signatories on this
letter.
Please send all info regarding the signature-gathering campaign directly
to USLAW at info@uslaboragainstwar.org,
with copies to Rochelle Dornatt (w/Farr) at Rochelle.Dornatt@mail.house.gov
and OWC at ilcinfo@earthlink.net
.
Thanks, in advance, for your support to this important initiative.
In Solidarity,
Ed Rosario and Alan Benjamin
Co-coordinators,
OWC Continuations Committee
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HELP IRAQI
WORKERS GET THEIR JOBS BACK!
The best means to a stable Iraq is to
get the Iraqi workforce back to work! A strong workplace environment means
a strong, democratic economy.
[Current Co-signers include the following Members of Congress: Farr,
Kucinich, Lee, Grijalva, Filner, Maloney, Owens, Watson, Woolsey, Evans,
Hinchey, McGovern, Lantos, Clay, Frank, Sanders, Danny Davis, Schakowsky,
Kaptur]
Dear Colleague:
Please join us in signing the attached letter to Donald Rumsfeld,
Secretary of Defense, and Paul Bremer, U.S. Administrator of Occupied
Iraq, to demand jobs, a living wage and labor rights for the working
people of Iraq. If we are serious about post-conflict reconstruction and
rebuilding Iraq to be a democratic member of the international community,
we must give it the tools to do so. A healthy workforce is integral to
that effort.
The current situation for workers in Iraq is intolerable. There is massive
unemployment ranging from 60% to 70% of the working age population, with
no system whatsoever of unemployment compensation benefits or any type of
subsistence income for people to survive on until jobs become available.
The announced plan of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)
to privatize hundreds of state-owned enterprises will cause thousands more
to lose their jobs and add to the misery of Iraqi families. Wages for the
majority of those who are employed are $60 a month, the same
as under the Saddam Hussein government, but absent the bonuses, profit
sharing and subsidies for food and housing that formerly supplemented low
wages and made it possible for Iraqi workers to maintain a nominal
standard of living. Of the $87 billion that Congress recently approved for
the occupation and reconstruction of Iraq, nothing was allocated either to
restore the wages and benefits of Iraqi workers or to provide a stipend
for those who are unemployed.
In addition, efforts by Iraqis to organize to improve their conditions
have been met with repression by the CPA. Leaders of the Union of the
Unemployed of Iraq have several times been arrested and then released
without charge. On Dec. 6, 2003, the headquarters of one of the main labor
federations was ransacked, files were confiscated and eight leaders were
held overnight and then released, with no explanation given and no charges
having been brought against them. Incomprehensibly, the CPA is enforcing a
law from the Saddam Hussein era that forbids unionization by workers in
the public sector and state-owned enterprises which employ 70% of the
Iraqi workforce.
One of the widely recognized cornerstones of a democratic society is a
free and independent labor movement. The attached letter to Sec. Rumsfeld
and Mr. Bremer calls on the CPA to provide jobs or income to Iraqi
workers, to pay a living wage, and to allow Iraqi workers to exercise
internationally-recognized labor rights - the right to organize
independent unions of their own choosing and to bargain collectively, free
from interference and repression. The letter asks Rumsfeld and Bremer to
provide a detailed plan and timeline for meeting these goals.
Please join us in signing this letter. No democratic society can take root
- in Iraq or elsewhere - unless working people enjoy basic freedoms and a
decent standard of living.
To sign on or for more information, please contact Rochelle Dornatt
(w/Farr) at 5-2861 or Rochelle.Dornatt@mail.house.gov
Sincerely,
**************************************************
Sam Farr, Member of Congress
Dennis Kucinich, Member of Congress
Barbara Lee, Member of Congress
April 2, 2004
The Honorable Donald Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
United States of America
Mr. Paul Bremer
U.S. Administrator
Occupied Iraq
Dear Messrs. Rumsfeld and Bremer:
Reports from many sources -- the International Labor Organization, the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, numerous published
reports, and an eye-witness account recently issued by U.S. Labor Against
the War (copy enclosed) -- indicate that a deplorable situation currently
exists for the working men and women of Iraq:
- Massive unemployment, with estimates ranging from 60% to 70% - leaving
most employable persons unable to provide for their families.
- No system of unemployment compensation benefits or any type of
subsistence income - leaving no safety net for persons previously employed
but displaced because of the war.
- Wages of $60 per month for the vast majority of those who are
employed -- a figure clearly inadequate to sustain life , let alone
support a family.
- Elimination of the bonuses and subsidies for food and housing that
formerly supplemented cash wages in Iraq -- causing a sharp decline in
real income.
- No system governing hours of work, health and safety conditions,
overtime pay provisions, child labor, and other labor standards for Iraqi
workers - thus encouraging exploitation of workers.
The stated intention of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)
to privatize hundreds of state-owned enterprises which provide the bulk of
jobs in Iraq will exacerbate all of these problems, causing additional
massive job loss and further deprivation and hardship for Iraqi workers
and their families.
Efforts by Iraqi workers to organize to remedy these problems have been
discouraged by the CPA, if not met with out-and-out resistance and
repression. Leaders of the Unemployed Union of Iraq have several times
been arrested and then released without charge. On Dec. 6, 2003, U.S.
soldiers raided the headquarters of the Iraq Federation of Trade Unions,
ransacked the office, confiscated the files, arrested eight of the
leaders, and then released them the next day without charge. Most
alarmingly, the Coalition Provisional Authority is enforcing a 1987 Saddam
Hussein law prohibiting unionization and collective bargaining in the
public sector and state-owned enterprises which employ 70% of the Iraqi
workforce.
We believe that nothing resembling a democratic society can take root
unless working people enjoy basic, internationally-recognized labor rights
- the right to organize independent unions of their own choosing and to
bargain collectively to improve their standard of living, free of
interference and repression. This is no less true in Iraq than in the U.S.
Previous Iraqi governments have ratified ILO conventions 87 and 98,
codifying these basic labor rights, and they should be given the force of
law by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.
Further, with U.S. government officials projecting that hundreds of
thousands of Iraqi workers are expected to be employed, principally by
U.S.-based corporations, on 2,311 planned reconstruction projects over the
next two years, the CPA needs to establish a system of labor standards: a
livable minimum wage, overtime pay provisions, health and safety
protections, prohibitions on child labor, statutory paid time off,
essential health care and other social benefits, and so forth. Perhaps
most urgently, the CPA must establish a system of unemployment benefits to
provide sustenance to the millions of unemployed until jobs become
available. Plans to privatize state-owned enterprises should be halted
until the Iraqi people themselves have the opportunity to decide the
future of their economy and their country.
Please provide us with answers to the following questions:
1. What law or decree currently governs the right of Iraqi workers to
organize unions and bargain collectively? Is the CPA enforcing this
law/decree? If not, why not?
2. What are the plans of the CPA to implement ILO conventions 87 and 98
guaranteeing the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively?
3. For what reason was the office of the Iraq Federation of Trade Unions
raided by U.S. soldiers on Dec. 6, 2003? Why were eight IFTU leaders
arrested, held overnight, and then released without charges being brought
against them? What guarantees can you provide that repression of trade
unions and their leaders will not become a continuing feature of occupied
Iraq?
4. What law or decree currently sets minimum labor standards for Iraqi
workers? What plan does the CPA have to establish a minimum wage that can
sustain a family, a standard workweek with requirements for overtime pay,
a mechanism for assuring healthy and safe workplaces, provision of
essential health care, prohibitions on the exploitation of child labor,
requirements for paid time off, etc.?
5. What plans are there to establish a system of unemployment compensation
benefits for the unemployed workers of Iraq?
Thank you for your attention to this matter. We await your reply.
Sincerely,