U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW)

Last Thursday, I attended a talk by two Iraqi labor union leaders at the Carpenter's Hall in St. Paul. The event was sponsored by U.S. Labor Against the War. There were 300 attendees. Here are my extensive notes from the event. I had no tape recorder so this is NOT verbatim. Any errors are mine:

6/16/05 program in St. Paul Minnesota with Iraqi trade union leaders.

David Foster, Director, United Steelworkers, District 11.

Iraq and America's future are deeply intertwined. A free, safe and prosperous society includes the exercise of labor rights. Sixty years ago in 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed. It recognized labor rights and essential. But the global economy is being formed in direct opposition to labor rights. Each time Bush signs a treaty, he weakens labor rights around the world: in Colombia, in Bolivia, with CAFTA, with job flight to China and on the Marianna Islands that can label their products "Made in USA" while not providing the US minimum wage. The lack of labor rights in China is reflected in plant shutdowns here at home. GM says it will layoff thousands of workers. Wal-mart shelves are stuffed with the results of this unfair system. Nowhere are labor rights issues more important than Iraq. The laws prohibiting unions in Iraq that existed under Saddam are still in effect today under U.S. occupation. They claim that "stability must precede democracy." But where has democracy ever NOT been led by independent trade unions. It was true in Poland, it was true in Serbia. Unions are the true measure of a democracy.

Today we have two leaders in the Iraqi labor movement. Amjad Ali Aljawhry fled Iraq in 1995 and is currently living in Canada. Falah Awan is a member of two underground union organizations in Iraq. He believes the key to resolving issues between people of good will and shared principles is to meet and listen together.

Two and a half years ago, the AFL-CIO spoke out against war in Iraq. At the recent meeting of the USW, an overwhelming majority demanded a strong statement against war. This situation demands that we talk and learn from each other.

There's a difference between service to our country and honoring that service and blind obedience to the policies of the Bush Administration. Langston Hughes has a poem called "Let America Be American Again," in which he says, "We the people must redeem America .. we must make America again." Be united in insisting that labor rights are redeemed and be determined to make America again.

-----

Letters from Mark Dayton and Betty McCallum read by their representatives.

________

Ali Aljawhry, rep. of the FWCUI and Union of the Unemployed in Iraq (UUI) for North America.

Due to my union activities, I was blacklisted in Iraq. I fled to Turkey in 1995 and made my way to Toronto in 1996 where I have been active in the anti-war movement. I want to thank the labor unions in Minnesota who sponsored this tour.

It is very hard to imagine what life is like in Iraq today. We want to build our own future. But after 27 months of occupation, the situation is getting worse and worse. Victims increase daily. The economy is going down. The infrastructure is devastated. The occupation is driving us to an ethnic and civil war which we cannot get out of unless the U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq. Iraqis know that the American people and the Bush administration are totally different entities. The media portrays Iraqis as people who only kill. We want to build and Iraq with a non-discriminatory constitution that defends every citizen of Iraq. So far, after two years, we haven't seen any democracy. The same labor code that existed under Saddam is still in place. We want to change this. Iraq unions have suffered. Only one union has gained status today. To build our society, we know that workers are who form the majority of our country. Giving the right to organize independently is the only way to maintain human rights.

We Iraqis and Americans have one thing in common. Our kids are workers. Without distinction between Iraqi and Americans, we need to withdraw the troops to keep both of our children alive. One of the consequences of occupation is very personal. Last year my father had a heart attack. Because of the curfew, there were no ambulances, so we drove. Because of the check points, it took us four hours to go a distances that usually takes 20 minutes. He died before we got to the hospital. The doctor said he could have been saved if he had arrived at the hospital earlier. My father's death is not counted as a casualty of war, although it is.

------

Falah Awan, President of Federation of Workers Councils and Unions of Iraq.
In English: I have a problem with the language, so my friend will help me out.

In Arabic: On behalf of Iraqi workers and on behalf of the workers councils and on behalf of myself, I greet you. I want to talk about the devastation in Iraq. We have to talk about how to rebuild a new society. Our federation started to organization industrial workers and we have survived the war. It was very difficult. Our goals were clear and militant. Our major issue was to not build unions that are directly tied with the government. We have a heritage of this kind of union in the Baathist tradition of Iraqi. Our job was to draw up a future society in which we bring about a more modern labor code.
Workers must participate actively in drafting the new constitution. To put it simply, the workers must participate in building this society.

Iraqi society is losing its entity under occupation. The new government was installed and based on ethnicity and religion. Various power groups were racing to get their share of the government. The needs of the workers were lost in the struggle. In order to build a modern society, the occupation troops must be withdrawn and the workers must lead. I would love to tell our friends that the progressive workers are not what the media shows -- that Iraqis are killers. And the silly idea that society will burn down if U.S. troops withdraw. The progressive movement does exist and we represent that movement. We will represent our humanity. We will fight the reactionary groups. We consider ourselves part of an international movement. A victory in Iraq will be a victory for the international labor movement.

The progressive movement has been defeated, however we will return. We will go ahead and build a better world, without war, without discrimination. A world where human rights are defended.

It want to call upon everyone -- the labor movement in the U.S., in Europe and in the entire world -- to be clear in opposition to war and occupation. Because all of the world says no to war and yes to human rights.

The time has come to transfer our words into a plan, to set our standards. The task for building a better world is led by the workers. The workers have moved the entire history of our world.

I'll close now. I want to assure our brothers and sisters that the progressive movement will survive the occupation. Your solidarity with our movement will be huge and our movement thanks you.

----

Foster: The next steps are clear.

1. Carry on this discussion among ourselves and in the labor movement.

2. Join the Steelworkers associates union and help put on more programs such as this.

3. Support U.S. Labor Against the War by becoming a member.

4. Help build the labor movement in Iraq. It costs a lot of money, and it is an especially difficult struggle when it is not funded by groups like the CIA. The expenses for this event have been paid for by the sponsoring unions. Your donations today will go directly back to the workers in Iraq.


Question & answer session. Questions were written on 3x5 cards and compiled and asked by Foster.

Q: Is your country better off now than before the war?
A.: It's just getting worse and worse.

Q: What is currently happening in organizing unions?
A: It is not easy. Unemployment is high. Known union organizers will be fired by their employers. Decree #16 allowed for one union to be organized so far. We also have a 25-year tradition that is a barrier to union organizing. There are ethnic tensions, the domination of some militias over areas of the country. These are barriers to organizing. There are small areas of stability in which we were able to organize.

Q: Iraq has a history of literacy, human rights and women's rights. How has that changed since the war began?
A: The sanctions placed huge pressures on our people. The tribal traditions were revived. Many issued decrees that oppressed women, especially "honor killing" which gave men the right to kill relatives they believed were unfaithful. This has been a serious defeat of the women's movement in Iraq. And in Kurdistan-controlled Iraq, the women are treated even worse. At one time, 2000 prostitutes were rounded up there and slaughtered in the street.

Q: Is there any advantage to continuing the U.S. occupation?
A: We demand occupation troops be withdrawn fully and immediately. Terrorist groups are committing crimes against the people because of that occupation. If the U.S. truly wants to help democracy, they can pull their troops out and give support to the progressive workers of Iraq. We will be the ones to get rid of the reactionaries and right wing in Iraq.

Q: What is the size of the progressive, secular society in Iraq? Were you able to participate in the January elections?
A: Every reactionary power in Iraq has its allies outside Iraq that support it. Outsiders openly finance these groups. The secular movement does not have strong support from outside Iraq. Iraq is in a very unstable situation. The instability can allow only 100 people to control an entire city. So even if there were thousands of progressives living in that city, they would lack the organization to fight this control. To help organize progressives, we have formed the Iraq Freedom Congress and we may be able to grow.

On the elections, we issued a statement saying the election was not legitimate. We declared the election was only a ploy to give legitimacy to the installed government. Yet one of the organizations with a very big reputation in Iraq issued a fatwa saying whoever doesn't vote will go to hell. These kind of tactics depend the divisions in Iraq. Conditions got worse and worse after the election. The current government has allowed for only one union. That union is run by a man who was a member of the installed government before he joined a union. We have presented our views and demand to participate in drawing the new constitution.

Q: Can you talk about the ethnic challenges to forming a union and how to fight that?
A: Yes it is difficult. We had a union in an oil company in Kirkuk that included people of all ethnicity and religions. Our union included representatives of all these groups. Then the militias came. They said Kirkuk is Kurdish and that the union could only represent the Kurds. They threatened to relocate the union and they arrested two officials. It has made our work very difficult.

Under the Baathist regime there were two union federations: one was Shi'ite and one was Suni. These unions spoke to workers based only on their religion. If that tradition continues, it will be a disaster for the Iraqi labor movement.

Q: After withdrawal, how will Iraq avoid a civil war?
A: Ask yourself, who in Iraq is gaining strength from the U.S. occupation? After the occupation began, these groups -- Bin Laden and such -- grew very strong in the western part of Iraq and they even operate in parts of Baghdad. They do things such as kill hairdressers who provide "western" haircuts.

Q: What is the impact of the U.S. contract workers in Iraq?
A: We are not against foreign workers. They deserve protection and labor rights as well as the Iraqis. In Iraq the official unemployment rate is now 40%. The foreign companies are using six or seven subcontractors for every project. Of those subcontractors, the last two might be Iraqi. The installed government employs only the police and the military and their contracts last for six months only. They are given no insurance and no compensation for injuries or death. We believe the unemployment rate will continue to rise and that will increase the violence in Iraq.

Q: What industries survived the war and what organizing happens in those industries?
A: We have textile, leather, food and oil industries. These industries survived, not because nobody wanted to loot their factories, but because the equipment was too big. In one plant we have 6,000 machinists who survived and are unionized, but there is tremendous pressure to privatize the plant.

------

Foster: Our international union gives all our translators a break after 30 minutes and we have already broken that rule here tonight!

Reading of fraternal greetings from the campaign against Coca-Cola in Colombia.

Foster: Thank you all. $1,219 was raised to support Iraqis. Meetings like this are very important. All of you should please join the Steelworkers. This struggle will go on for a long time. The observation of labor and human rights must be supported. Go out tonight determined to do good work.