Interview: President of the Iraqi Agricultural Workers' Union

The following interview with Abdul Aalye Awlawe Al Rekeabye, President of the Agricultural Workers Union was conducted at the recent Conference of Iraqi trade unions organised by the ICFTU in Amman, Jordan to discuss the application of ILO Conventions in Iraq and the development of a labour code for the Iraqi constitution.

Abdullah Muhsin: Tell us something about your union. When was it established? How were you elected as President and what have you achieved since your election?

Abdul Aalye Awlawe Al Rekeabye: On 5th June 2004 a conference was held at the Ministry of Agriculture offices in Baghdad. 119 delegates representing 28 workplace union committees attended the Conference. The delegates all came from Baghdad. 24 individuals put themselves forward for election to an Executive Committee and 15, including myself, were elected. I was then elected President at the first meeting of the Executive Committee.

We have warm comradeship with all regional union committees, such as those in Al Umara and Dyala kut al Basra.

We organised a strike on 4th and 5th September 2004 at the A1 Kandy Company, demanding a pay increase. All the 170 workers at the company took part in the action and after two days we won a minimum wage agreement for unskilled workers and an increase in the monthly rate from 30, 000 to 70, 000 dinars.

We have organised several seminars on trade union rights. We campaigned for reinstatement and compensation for workers who were sacked for their political views by the old regime. Our union has succeeded in obtaining the reinstatement of many workers.

We are affiliated to the IFTU and consider our union as one of the main pillars of the federation – we were at the conference that established the IFTU on 16 May 2003.

We are presently campaigning for a labour code in line with ILO principles on rights at work, and demanding the repeal of Saddam’s 1987 anti-union law, which is still in place.

At our conference on 5th June 2004, it was agreed to form a Food Staff Workers Union, as a separate section of the Agricultural Union. The new Food Staff Union has already achieved success in wage struggles, notably in the Baghdad Tobacco factory. It has also prevented the forced transfer of one of its officials from one company to another: the state management backed down in the face of a threatened strike. The union now has branches organising in the following sectors: Food Oil, Tobacco,
Sweets, Yoghurt, Food Products and Soft Drinks