Iraqi trade uions need U.S. troops out
Letter to the Editor:
An old trade union adage says that
labor can't negotiate with the bosses when they hold a gun to
your head. In Iraq, this is all too true.
On Dec. 6, U.S. occupation soldiers in 10 armored cars
smashed the temporary headquarters of the Iraqi Federation of
Trade Unions, in the offices of the Trans port and
Communication Union. They arrested eight of its leaders and
ransacked and destroyed the IFTU's possessions, tearing down
banners and posters, smashing windows and defacing the
building.
As trade unionists, we are outraged at this fascistic attack
on this union--whatever its origins. We hold the Bush
administration, the Pentagon and the military brass responsible
for this unprovoked action and join the widening calls for full
compensation for the damages inflicted, now that the detainees
have been released.
It is crystal clear that the U.S. occupation forces were
acting in collusion with Halliburton, Bechtel and other U.S.
corpo rations whose contemptible, vic ious, anti-worker and
anti-union practices are despised here and abroad. Their main
objective is to pauperize the Iraqi workers by privatizing and
robbing the resources, particularly the oil reserves, to
maximize war profits.
It remains for the Iraqi workers to ultimately determine the
development of the trade union movement at a time of almost
80-percent unemployment and widespread hunger. This is a far
cry from conditions under the Saddam Hussein government, which
supplied free food to 60 percent of the population, responding
to the necessities imposed by the brutal U.S. sanctions.
There are today no union rights in Iraq, no
self-determination and no democratic reforms, nor will the Bush
administration be bound by international codes, rules and
conventions under the United Nations International Labor Organ
ization. To support Iraqi labor, we must demand: End the U.S.
occupation and bring the troops home.
Milt Neidenberg, retired Teamster
Sharon Ceci, Shop Steward,
Local 27, UFCW
Reprinted from the Dec. 25, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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