Iraq government reverses wage cut after strikes

http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?=1&cache=0&id=17042

Baghdad electricity workers rally

Thousands of electricity workers took to the street on September 16, 2008 in Firdaws Square in Baghdad in a demonstration called and led by the General Federation of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq (GFWCUI), represented by Subhi Albadry, President of GFWCUI, and the Labor Movement Unifying Bureau, represented by Hassan Jumaa, president.
This event came as a result of the current situations as regards infrastructure (electricity that is given to people about one hour a day in particular). The workers came from different parts of Iraq to denounce the government's performance, especially that of the minister of electricity; the corruption and the neglect of this sector and its employees by the current government; as well as the banning of freedom of association.
Although the security forces were surrounding the area where the event took place, and prevented many other workers from joining the rally, the participants were able to voice their demands that were:
1. The dismissal of the Minister of Electricity Karim Wahid and his inner-circle
2. Bringing all corrupt officials and employees to justice
3. Hiring professional staff who are immune from sectarianism
4. The return of the political prisoners to their jobs
5. Giving the workers who are on contract a permanent position.
The Labor Movement Unifying Bureau consists of General Union of Oil Workers, General Union of Electricity Workers, the Union of Rail Workers and GFWCUI. It was formed in 2007, headed by Hassan Jumaa and his vice president Abuwatan, as a step towards unifying as many unions as possible to form a confederation that include all workers in Iraq.

Demonstration: Hands off Kurdish asylum seekers!

the international federation of iraqi refugees and coalition to stop deportations to iraq are holding a joint lobby to protest at the uk home office’s continuing policy of forcible deportations to iraq.

lobby of the home office, 2 marsham st, london, westminster/st james’ park, thursday 11 september, 12.30 – 14.30

the families of hussein ali and muhammed hussein will be attending the lobby: hussein ali committed suicide days after being forcibly returned to kurdistan on 7 august. muhammad hussein died of cancer following six years of struggle to gain refugee status in the uk.

Stop the execution of teacher unionist Farzad Kamangar

From Education International
Dear colleagues,

Farzad Kamangar, a 33-year old teacher and former trade unionist from the Kurdistan Province of Iran, is at risk of execution following the ruling issued at an unfair trial.

In recent weeks, EI has written to the Iranian Government to request a fair trial for Farzad Kamangar and other union activists who are under arrest. In spite of joint efforts from various national and international organisations to have death sentence of Farzad Kamangar communted, it was upheld by the Supreme Court on 11 July 2008. In addition, Iranian trade union colleagues and human rights activists who show solidarity with Farzad are being subjected to pervasive intimidation by the Iranian authorities.

The arrest, detention and condemnation of trade unionists because of their human and trade union activities are not only serious violations of trade union rights, but also create an atmosphere of fear prejudicial to trade union development in Iran.

Background Information

Farzad's story

On 25 February 2008, the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Farzad Kamangar to death on charges of "endangering national security" and "enmity against God" (moharebe). The death penalty was confirmed by the Supreme Court on 11 July. Click here to read more about Farzad.


Kamangar, who worked as a teacher in rural areas and was a human rights activist, is accused of being a terrorist through his alleged affiliation to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK. According to his lawyer, Khalil Bahramian, there is no evidence to justify the judgement that Kamangar has “endangered national security”. His lawyer, who was not permitted to defend him, says Farzad’s trial was not in accordance with article 168 of the Iranian Constitution: “Political and press offences will be tried openly and in the presence of a jury, in courts of justice.” In this case, only one judge reviewed the case within five minutes and the defendant was not allowed to speak.

A support committee composed of members of the Teacher Trade Association, former colleagues of Kamangar and human rights attorneys, including Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, was established on July 21, 2008 to defend the civil rights of Farzad Kamangar and to undertake legal actions to have his death sentence commuted. Following the first meeting of the Committee, three teachers were arrested and taken to the Intelligence Detention Centre in Sanandaj, in the Iranian province of Kurdistan. Two – Hassan Ghorbani and Kaveh Rostami– are still in detention, while the third, Ahmad Ghorbani, was released on bail after two weeks. Farzad’s supporters and their family members are regularly intimidated through phone calls by the Ministry of Intelligence and National Security.

In addition to opposing the death sentence, EI condemns the torture of Farzad Kamangar while in detention and the subsequent denial of medical treatment. When his family was last allowed to visit him in prison, his injuries were such that he was unable to walk. EI has urged the Iranian authorities to investigate the reports of torture and to ensure that, in future, no detainee is subject to torture or ill-treatment.

To date, EI has no affiliate in Iran. However EI has received an application for membership from the Iranian Teacher’ Trade Association and a representative of that organisation was invited as a guest to the last EI Congress in Berlin in 2007. Upon his return from the EI Congress, Mohammad Khaksari was harassed by the security forces. Mr Khaksari is also an active member of the ‘Committee to Save Farzad’ and he is among those who are being harassed by the Ministry of Intelligence.

Against an attack on Iran

More than one hundred Israeli academicians and peace activists have signed the following declaration:

There is no military, political or moral justification to initiate war with Iran
A constant flow of information bears witness to the fact that the Israeli government is seriously considering attacking Iran, in order to disrupt its nuclear plans. We do not disregard irresponsible actions by the Iranian government - we also oppose atomic weapons in principle and support the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction from the region. However, it is clear that the main source of the immediate danger of a new, widespread war stems from the policies of the Israeli government and the flow of threats from it, backed by provocative military maneuvers.

After serious consideration, we reiterate our position that all the arguments for such an attack are without any security, political or moral justification. Israel might get caught up in an act of adventurism that could endanger our very existence, and this without any serious effort to exhaust the political and diplomatic alternatives to armed conflict.

We are not certain that such an attack will occur. But the very fact that it is being weighed as a reasonable option, makes it imperative that we warn and caution against the destructive results of an offensive strike against Iran.

Coordinating Group: Prof. Gadi Algazi; Judy Blanc; Prof. Rachel Giora; Prof. Anat Matar; Prof. Adi Ophir; Prof. Yoav Peled; Reuven Kaminer, Prof. Haggai Ram; Prof. Yehuda Shenhav; Prof. Oren Yiftachel.
Contact: reuven.kaminer@gmail.com
Tel: 972 2 6414632

Appeal for funds to send Mohammad Hussain’s body home to be buried

The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR) is sorry to inform you that one of our comrades Mohammad Hussain died of cancer on Sunday 3rd August. Many of you will know Mohammad Hussain from Doncaster. He was a big man with a big heart. Mohammad was originally from Erbil in Northern Iraq. Mohammad has been a political campaigner all of his life. He was forced to leave Erbil and seek refuge in the UK March 2000, following threats from the Kurdish Democratic Party because of his political campaigning.

Unfortunately Mohammed became one of the many Iraqi Kurds caught up in the UK Home Office asylum system. But until the very end of his life, Mohammed never gave up on the fight to gain refugee status.

He was arrested and he was moved from Lindholme detention centre to Campsfield detention centre in Oxfordshire, to Tinsley House and then to Haslar. The Home Office tried to deport him on 14th May 2008 to Iraq via Royal Jordanian Airlines. 44 minutes before the plane was due to fly his solicitor and the campaign to defend him sucessfully stopped his deportation. While he was in the detention centre at Lindholme he was very stressed and suffered much pain. When he explained that he had a lump in his stomach which was getting bigger and harder he was given a mild painkiller, then sold a headache tablet by the detention centre ”doctor”. Mohammad died but did not get refugee status.

For the eight years Mohammad was in the UK he was a constant and fierce defender of refugee and human rights. Mohammad worked with many refugee charities and organisations. As well as being an active member of IFIR he was also treasurer of the Doncaster Focus Group (a co-ordinating group of refugee and migrant volunteers). He was an active member of the South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group and marched 40 miles in October 2008 from Sheffield to Lindholme to protest at conditions there. He was one of the best known and loved members of the Kurdish community in South Yorkshire. In the last weeks of his life, his bedside was crowded with friends and well-wishers.

Mohammad spent much of his life campaigning and helping other people. IFIR is now asking you to help him. Mohammad’s family want to take his body back to Iraq to be buried. Please help us to make this possible please donate online from csdiraq.com or send cheques to IFIR made out to :


ACCOUNT NAME : A GORAN MOHAMMED
account number: 81397680
sort code: 40/04/07



IFIR
PO.BOX1575,
ILFORD,
IG1 3BZ,
LONDON UK

Iraq: Alarm at forced transfer of Basra union activists

Richard Norton-Taylor
The Guardian, Friday July 25 2008

Eight Iraqi trade union leaders have been forcibly transferred from
Basra to Baghdad, where their lives are said to be at risk for
opposing a planned law in which control over oil exploration and
production would be placed in foreign hands.

The men, members of the Iraq Federation of Oil Unions, IFOU, have been
moved to the capital apparently on the personal orders of Hussain
al-Shahristani, the Iraqi oil minister, under anti-union legislation
left over from Saddam Hussein's rule. Greg Muttitt, co-director of
Platform, the human rights, environment and oil industry watchdog,
described the men's transfer as "extremely disturbing". He met
Shahristani a month ago to protest against the move.

The Iraqi oil minister said the eight men were involved with the
militias and in criminal activities, such as smuggling. But Muttitt
said: "There is absolutely no substance in these extremely serious
allegations and he offered no evidence."

Even if there was such evidence, it should be a matter for the Iraqi
judicial authorities and the courts, he added.

British officials in Baghdad and Basra have investigated the affair,
said Kim Howells, the foreign minister. In a letter, he said Britain
wanted to repeal Saddam's "restrictive" union laws and said Anne
Clywd, the prime minister's special envoy on human rights, had
recently "emphasised the fundamental need for free and fair trade
unions in Iraq".

However, he added: "It appears that the government of Iraq is tackling
illegal trade union activities with the South Oil Company."

John Hilary, executive director of War on Want, said: "The Iraqi
Federation of Oil Unions has been leading the opposition to the
sell-off of Iraq's oil and these members are clearly being targeted
for their political actions. We believe the British government should
work for the safety of Iraqi trade unionists, not be complicit in
their persecution."

In a letter to Howells, he said: "We would also like you to state
whether the British government in any way condones the transfer of
trade unionists into dangerous areas as a method of "tackling their
activities, whether legal or illegal".

Hassan Juma'a Awad, an IFOU spokesman, claimed the transfer was
ordered by Shahristani himself. "Those activists, through their hard
work, are well known for fighting corruption and corrupt-ministry
gangs in the oil sector," he insisted, adding that the transfer
amounted to a "human rights crime".

First International Labor Conference in Iraq

Message From the Preparatory Committee for the First International Labor Conference in Iraq

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the global struggle for workers’ rights, peace and justice:

Plans are underway to hold an International Labor Conference in Iraq in August 2008. We see this as an important and urgent step toward strengthening and unifying the labor movement in Iraq. Only through increased solidarity in Iraq, and with workers in the region and around the world can we hope to impact the fate not only of workers but of all Iraqis.

We call upon all unions and labor organizations around the world to support this conference morally and financially. Your expressions of solidarity with workers in Iraq in the past have given us a lifeline of hope. Your continued participation and support for this conference will buoy and strengthen the Iraqi labor movement. Only through unity can we hope to achieve democracy, freedom, security and prosperity.

Iraq's labor movement is a force for unifying our nation. A strong labor movement is also essential to the future of any democracy in Iraq. Labor unions transcend the sectarian conflict unleashed by the U.S.-led occupation. The invasion and occupation turned Iraq into an arena for settling international accounts and a base for exporting terrorism to the world. Workers represent the majority of Iraqis who do not have any interest in the ongoing terrorist violence. When sectarian gangs have attempted to transfer their conflicts into the ranks of workers, they have been rejected.

Iraq's labor unions are the glue that binds Iraqi people in the north, center and south. In some areas, the glue is strong, but in other areas of the country unions are isolated. Our goal with the August conference is to strengthen the ties between all worker organizations and focus on our common priorities. Those who feel isolated need to know that they have support from the international labor movement.

Iraqi workers need your support if we are to speak in one voice to reclaim our sovereignty.

Five years of invasion, war and occupation have brought nothing but death, destruction, misery and suffering to our people. Millions of Iraqis, the majority of them workers, have been killed, wounded and displaced inside and outside of Iraq as a result of the U.S.-led occupation.

In the name of our “liberation” the invaders have destroyed our nation's infrastructure, bombed our neighbourhoods, broken into our homes, traumatized our children, assaulted and arrested many of our family members and neighbours, permitted the looting of our national treasures, and turned nearly twenty percent of our people into refugees.

The occupation is determined to impose its economic and political will on Iraqis. The occupiers came with designs on our national riches - our oil - and schemes to privatize our industries, utilities, ports and public services and to put Iraq's national resources under the control of foreign corporations and international financial institutions.

All decisions, decrees and resolutions of the dictatorship have been nullified or changed except the ones that concern the working class. In fact, the occupation has added more unjust conditions to complement those created by the former regime.

In violation of every precept of internationally recognized labor rights, the occupation has banned trade unions in the public sector, privatized state-owned and run enterprises, intervened in workers’ affairs by proposing to recognize only one government-approved labor federation, and blocked any legislation that protects workers from poverty, disease and unjust employers. Our union offices have been raided. Union property has been seized and destroyed. Our bank accounts have been frozen.

In the last five years workers have been the target of terrorist acts in their workplaces and homes. Our leaders have been beaten, arrested, abducted and assassinated. Our rights as workers are routinely violated.

Now the U.S. administration attempts to provoke and threaten war with Iran. We condemn these actions and will struggle to prevent another disastrous war on Iran where the victims will always be the workers, their families and loved ones.

We believe that the workers of Iraq can form a strong front for social justice and peace if supported by our brothers and sisters in the region and around the world.

Please help us take a stand against this disastrous situation that will have catastrophic implications for the workers of Iraq and threatens the peace and security of the entire world.

We call on your support and ask for your presence at the conference.

We need your financial help to underwrite the high costs of this conference. We need to raise more than $150,000.

We want your participation. The conference will take place from August 22nd through to 24th, 2008 in the city of Erbil, a relatively stable area of Iraq in the north, in a secure location. Please let us know if your organization will send observers. Their safety can be assured.

In Solidarity

Iraqi oil union under attack

The Iraqi Oil Minister, Hussein Al-Shahirstani, has ordered the transfer
of eight Oil Union activists. They used to work at the oil refineries in
the south. This act reflects the minister's anti-union policy, and lack
of respect for unions and union activists in the oil sector. Those
activists, through their hard work, are well known for fighting
corruption and corrupt-ministry gangs in the oil sector.

They have been transferred to Baghdad Al-Dorah neighborhood (known for
worsening security situation, and high level of sectarian killings). In
the context of Iraqi security situation, such a transfer is rightfully
regarded as human rights crime.

We call upon all people of good will in the world to take a stand to
denounce these despicable and criminal acts by the Iraqi Oil Ministry
against trade unions and their activists. The trade unions have been
reestablished and revitalized through the hard work of union activists
without any protection from the state, which keeps bragging about
democracy. [The Maliki government, taking its lead from the U.S.
Occupation Authority, continues to enforce the 1987 Saddam Hussein labor
code that prohibits unions and bargaining for workers in the oil sector
and all other public enterprises, which constitute 80% of all Iraqi jobs.]

This act is a clear evidence that the Iraqi state seeks to liquidate
trade unions in this important Iraqi economic sector, oil. It is
important to note that the south is the main source of oil in Iraq. The
oil sector there employs more than 39,000 workers. The Iraqi state has
no intention of allowing an Oil Trade Union in that sector because it
represents a threat to its authority.

We call upon you from all parts of the world to stand with us, for the
sake of labour and workers interests.

Respectfully,

Hassan Juma'a Awad, President
Iraq Federation of Oil Unions

Attack and arrest of twelve Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane workers

According to reports received from Shush city, the workers of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company have once again begun demonstrating in front of the Governor General's office.

This morning a large number of workers went to the Governor General's office in Shush and began demonstrating. At present their number is growing by the minute. The protesting workers are chanting slogans like: "Incompetent Governor, resign, resign", "Police force, shame, shame", "Monthly pay is our absolute right", "A livelihood and a life are our absolute right", "The workers are prepared to die but won't accept hardship".

An hour ago the security forces and the special guard attacked the protesting workers in front of the Governor General's office in Shush. They arrested twelve workers and took them to an undisclosed location. They behaved in a barbaric way while arresting them. Right now the workers are present in the city and are determined to continue with their protests until their demands have been met.

The special guard, the police and security forces have once again begun patrolling the city in their vehicles and are trying to create an atmosphere of intimidation and fear by their manoeuvres.

From Iranian Workers' Solidarity Network

Mehdi Kazemi granted asylum

On Monday Mehdi Kazemi, the Iranian gay teenager threatened with deportation back to Iran (where his boyfriend was executed) was granted unconditional asylum in the United Kingdom.

This is clearly excellent news for all of those solidarity activists who campaigned against his deportation and against racist and homophobic immigration laws. It is a slap in the face to the homophobic Iranian regime.

Unfortunately, the government has not taken any broader stance in favour of the right to asylum for persecuted LGBT people. Commenting on Mehdi's case the Home Office stated "We keep cases under review where circumstances have changed, and it has been decided that Mr. Kazemi should be granted leave to remain in the UK based on the particular facts of this case".

We will continue to fight against all deportations and in favour of the right to asylum.

Effective martial law in Shush city and widespread arrest of Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane workers

Last night crowds of special guard units from the cities of Khoramabad, Ahvaz and Dezful poured into Shush. These forces came into the city in the coaches and pickup trucks of the special guard units and have taken positions in various parts of the city, including the city centre, the bazaar, near the Governor General's office and the main streets and thoroughfares of the city. The special guard units have also taken positions on roads entering the city, and as soon as they notice any workers trying to enter the city, they arrest them and take them to an undisclosed place.

From this morning the Information Ministry and police forces began the widespread arrest of workers throughout the city. Until now dozens of workers have been arrested. These include Rahim Besagh, Kourosh Bahmani from the grinding and polishing section of the company, Mehran Akbari and Ali Shahbazi.

At present there is a chaotic situation in the city. Despite this atmosphere of intimidation and fear, the workers are still in the city and plan to continue with their demonstrations until their demands have been met.

According to reliable information that has reached the workers, the Governor General of Shush has issued the order for smashing the workers' protests and is personally supervising the way this repression is being carried out.

The demands of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane workers are as follows:

* Payment of three months' unpaid wages.
* An end to the gathering of legal dossiers and summoning workers to court.
* Sacking the general manager of the company, a mollah named Yaghoob Shafiee, and the whole management committee.
* Sacking the security chief of the company, a person named Zibdari, who has had a direct role in the beating, spying and gathering of dossiers on workers.

We must keep up the pressure on the management of this state-owned company and the Iranian government to stop the repression, to accept all the workers' demands and to drop all charges against them.

[Source: Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran]

Iraqi port workers' message of solidarity with West Coast dockers

On May 1st port workers in Umm Qasr staged a strike against the occupation of Iraq in unison with dock workers in the United States. Here is their solidarity statement:

From: The General Union of Port Workers in Iraq

To: The International Longshore and Warehouse Union in the United States

Dear Brothers and Sisters of ILWU in California:

The courageous decision you made to carry out a strike on May Day to protest against the war and occupation of Iraq advances our struggle against occupation to bring a better future for us and for the rest of the world as well.

We are certain that a better world will only be created by the workers and what you are doing is an example and proof of what we say. The labor movement is the only element in the society that is able to change the political equations for the benefit of mankind. We in Iraq are looking up to you and support you until the victory over the US administration's barbarism is achieved.

Over the past five years the sectarian gangs who are the product of the occupation, have been trying to transfer their conflicts into our ranks. Targeting workers, including their residential and shopping areas, indiscriminately using all sorts of explosive devices, mortar shells, and random shooting, were part of a bigger scheme that was aiming to tear up the society but they miserably failed to achieve their hellish goal. We are struggling today to defeat both the occupation and sectarian militias' agenda.

The pro-occupation government has been attempting to intervene into the workers affairs by imposing a single government-certified labor union. Furthermore it has been promoting privatization and an oil and gas law to use the occupation against the interests of the workers.

We the port workers view that our interests are inseparable from the interests of workers in Iraq and the world; therefore we are determined to continue our struggle to improve the living conditions of the workers and overpower all plots of the occupation, its economic and political projects.

Let us hold hands for the victory of our struggle.

Long live the port workers in California!

Long live May Day!

Long live International solidarity!

The General Union of Port Workers in Iraq, an affiliate of the General Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (GFWCUI)

An Injury to One is an Injury to All – Stop the Deportation of Mohammad Hussain

Many of you will know Mohammad Hussain from Doncaster. He is a big man with a big heart. Mohammad was one of the organisers and stewards on the 3 Day Dignity Not Detention march last October.The march ended with a protest outside Lindholme detention centre. Now Mohammad is inside Lindholme. He is threatened with deportation to Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan this Wednesday 14th May from Heathrow Airport at 17.05.

Mohammad has stated that, if he is deported to Iraqi Kurdistan, “my life would be in serious danger”. He left Iraqi Kurdistan in 1999 because of threats made against him by the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP). The KDP and its security apparatus now controls much of Iraqi Kurdistan and runs the city of Irbil – the proposed location for Mohammad’s deportation.

Since this time, persecution of political opponents of the KDP has increased, according to reports from Amnesty International, the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees and the UNHCR.

There is ample evidence that political opponents of the Kurdish Democratic Party have faced ill-treatment, imprisonment and grievous violence from the party’s security service upon their forced return to KDP-controlled Irbil. Following the forced deportation of 60 Iraqi Kurds from the UK to Irbil in February 2008 the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees reported that guards from the Kurdish Regional Government “knew nothing of human rights”.

Mr Hussain’s deportation would not just be a grave threat to his life. It would be a loss to Doncaster and South Yorkshire. Apart from Mohammad’s role in South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group (SYMAAG) and his active defence of other Iraqi Kurds threatened with deportation, he has played an important role in community life in Doncaster. He is Treasurer of the Doncaster Focus Group (a co-ordinating group of refugee and migrant volunteers), an active volunteer with the Northern Refugee Centre and one of the best known and loved members of the Kurdish community in South Yorkshire.

What You Can Do to Help

1.Send urgent faxes/emails immediately to Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State for the Home Office asking that Mohammad Hussain be granted protection in the UK. Model letter to Secretary of State is attached or you can copy/amend/write your own version (if you do so, please remember to include the HO ref H1028720).

Fax: 020 7035 3262 (00 44 20 7035 3262 if you are faxing from outside UK)

Email Jacqui Smith: smithjj@parliament.uk

Write to Jacqui Smith: Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP, Secretary of State for the Home Office, 3rd Floor, Peel Buildings, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF

2. Send urgent faxes/emails immediately to Rosie Winterton MP for Doncaster Central Constituency. Model letter to Secretary of State is attached or you can copy/amend/write your own version (if you do so, please remember to include the HO ref H1028720).

Parliamentary Office:
Rt Hon Rosie Winterton MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Tel. 0207 219 0925
Fax: 0207 219 2811

Constituency office:
Room 9
The Trades and Labour Club
115 St Sepulchre Gate West
Doncaster
DN1 3AH
Tel: 01302 326297
Fax: 01302 342921
Email: wintertonr@parliament.uk

Please notify the campaign of any faxes/emails sent to Jacqui Smith or Rosie Winterton at dignitynotdetention@yahoo.co.uk or 07969 156 082

3. Copy and distribute the campaign leaflet for Mohammad: see attachment. Contact Graeme Huston, the editor of Doncaster Free Press: graeme.huston@doncastertoday.co.uk or Telephone : 01302 819111 or Fax : 01302 348523. Contact the Doncaster Star newspaper: Star Newsdesk News Editor, Telephone : 0114 276 7676 or email: starnews@sheffieldnewspapers.co.uk

Stuart Crosthwaite, SYMAAG Secretary

Contact the South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group (SYMAAG) at dignitynotdetention@yahoo.co.uk

Naomi Klein to speak at oil union fundraiser, Monday 19 May

www.handsoffiraqioil.org

Hands off Iraqi oil demo at Shell AGM

www.handsoffiraqioil.org

May Day 2008 Statement from the Iraqi Labour Movement To the Workers and All Peace Loving People of the World

On this day of international labour solidarity we call on our fellow trade unionists and all those worldwide who have stood against war and occupation to increase support for our struggle for freedom from occupation - both the military and economic.

We call upon the governments, corporations and institutions behind the ongoing occupation of Iraq to respond to our demands for real democracy, true sovereignty and self-determination free of all foreign interference.

Five years of invasion, war and occupation have brought nothing but death, destruction, misery and suffering to our people. In the name of our “liberation,” the invaders have destroyed our nation’s infrastructure, bombed our neighbourhoods, broken into our homes, traumatized our children, assaulted and arrested many of our family members and neighbours, permitted the looting of our national treasures, and turned nearly twenty percent of our people into refugees.

The invaders helped to foment and then exploit sectarian divisions and terror attacks where there had been none. Our union offices have been raided. Union property has been seized and destroyed. Our bank accounts have been frozen. Our leaders have been beaten, arrested, abducted and assassinated. Our rights as workers have been routinely violated.

The Ba’athist legislation of 1987, which banned trade unions in the public sector and public enterprises (80% of all workers), is still in effect, enforced by Paul Bremer’s post-invasion Occupation Authority and then by all subsequent Iraqi administrations. This is an attack on our rights and basic precepts of a democratic society, and is a grim reminder of the shadow of dictatorship still stalking our country.

Despite the horrific conditions in our country, we continue to organise and protest against the occupation, against workplaces abuses, and for better treatment and safer conditions.

Despite the sectarian plots around us, we believe in unity and solidarity and a common aim of public service, equality, and freedom to organise without external intrusions and coercion.

Our legitimacy comes from our members. Our principles of organisation are based on transparent and internationally recognised International Labour Organisation standards.

We call upon our allies and all the world’s peace-loving peoples to help us to end the nightmare of occupation and restore our sovereignty and national independence so that we can chart our own course to the future.

1) We demand an immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from our country, and utterly reject the agreement being negotiated with the USA for long-term bases and a military presence. The continued occupation fuels the violence in Iraq rather than alleviating it. Iraq must be returned to full sovereignty.

2) We demand the passage of a labour law promised by our Constitution, which adheres to ILO principles and on which Iraqi trade unionists have been fully consulted, to protect the rights of workers to organize, bargain and strike, independent of state control and interference.

3) We demand an end to meddling in our sovereign economic affairs by the International Monetary Fund, USA and UK. We demand withdrawal of all economic conditionalities attached to the IMF’s agreements with Iraq, removal of US and UK economic “advisers” from the corridors of Iraqi government, and a recognition by those bodies that no major economic decisions concerning our services and resources can be made while foreign troops occupy the country.

4) We demand that the US government and others immediately cease lobbying for the oil law, which would fracture the country and hand control over our oil to multinational companies like Exxon, BP and Shell. We demand that all oil companies be prevented from entering into any long-term agreement concerning oil while Iraq remains occupied. We demand that the Iraqi government tear up the current draft of the oil law, and begin to develop a legitimate oil policy based on full and genuine consultation with the Iraqi people. Only after all occupation forces are gone should a long term plan for the development of our oil resources be adopted.

We seek your support and solidarity to help us end the military and economic occupation of our country. We ask for your solidarity for our right to organise and strike in defence of our interests as workers and of our public services and resources. Our public services are the legacy of generations before us and the inheritance of all future generations and must not be privatised.

We thank you for standing by us. We too stand with you in your own struggles for real democracy which we know you also struggle for, and against privatisation, exploitation and daily disempowerment in your workplaces and lives.

We commend those of you who have organised strikes and demonstrations to end the occupation in solidarity with us and we hope these actions will continue.

We look forward to the day when we have a world based on co-operation and solidarity. We look forward to a world free from war, sectarianism, competition and exploitation.

Endorsed by:

Hassan Juma’a Awad, President, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU)
Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU)
Falah Alwan, President, Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI)
Subhi Albadri, President, General Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (GFWCUI)
Nathim Rathi, President, Iraqi Port Workers Trade Union
Samir Almuawi, President, Engineering Professionals Trade Union
Ghzi Mushatat, President, Mechanic and Print Shop Trade Union
Waleed Alamiri, President, Electricity Trade Union
Ilham Talabani, President, Banking Services Trade Union
Abdullah Ubaid, President, Railway Trade Union
Ammar Ali, President, Transportation Trade Union
Abdalzahra Abdilhassan, President, Service Employees Trade Union
Sundus Sabeeh, President, Barber Shop Workers Trade Union
Kareem Lefta Sindan, President, Lumber and Construction Trade Union, General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW)
Sabah Almusawi, President, Wasit Independent Trade Union
Shakir Hameed, President, Lumber And Construction Trade Union (GFWCUI)
Awad Ahmed, President, Teachers Federation of Salahideen
Alaa Ghazi Mushatat, President, Agricultural And Food Substance Industries
Adnan Rathi Shakir, President, Water Resources Trade Union
Nahrawan Yas, President, Woman Affairs Bureau
Sabah Alyasiri, President (GFWCUI) Babil
Ali Tahi, President (GFWCUI) Najaf
Ali Abbas, President (GFWCUI) Basra
Muhi Abdalhussien, President (GFWCUI), Wasit
Ali Hashim Abdilhussien, President (GFWCUI) Kerbala
Ali Hussien, President (GFWCUI) Anbar
Mustafa Ameen, Arab Workers Bureau, President (GFWCUI)
Thameer Mzeail, Health Services, Union Committee
Khadija Saeed Abdullah, Teachers Federation, Member
Asmahan, Khudair, Woman Affairs, Textile Trade Unions
Adil Aljabiri, Oil Workers Trade Union Executive Bureau Member
Muhi Abdalhussien, Nadia Flaih, Service Employees Trade Unions
Rawneq Mohammed, Member, Media and Print Shop Trade Union
Abdlakareem Abdalsada, Vice President (GFWCUI)
Saeed Nima, Vice President (GFWCUI)
Sabri Abdalkareem, Member, (GFWCUI) Babil
Amjad Aljawhary, Representative of GFWCUI in North America

May Day Message from the General Union of Dock Workers in Iraq to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in the United States

Dear Brothers and Sisters of ILWU in California,

The courageous decision you made to carry out a strike on May Day to protest against the war and occupation of Iraq advances our struggle against occupation to bring a better future for us and for the rest of the world as well.

We are certain that a better world will only be created by the workers and what you are doing is an example and proof of what we say. The labor movement is the only element in the society that is able to change the political equations for the benefit of mankind. We in Iraq are looking up to you and support you until the victory over the US administration’s barbarism is achieved.

Over the past five years the sectarian gangs who are the product of the occupation, have been trying to transfer their conflicts into our ranks. Targeting workers, including their residential and shopping areas, indiscriminately using all sorts of explosive devices, mortar shells, and random shooting, were part of a bigger scheme that was aiming to tear up the society but they miserably failed to achieve their hellish goal. We are struggling today to defeat both the occupation and sectarian militias’ agenda.

The pro-occupation government has been attempting to intervene into the workers affairs by imposing a single government-certified labor union. Furthermore it has been promoting privatization and an oil and gas law to use the occupation against the interests of the workers.

We the port workers view that our interests are inseparable from the interests of workers in Iraq and the world; therefore we are determined to continue our struggle to improve the living conditions of the workers and overpower all plots of the occupation, its economic and political projects.

Let us hold hands for the victory of our struggle.

Long live the port workers in California!

Long live May Day!

Long live International solidarity!

The General Union of Port Workers in Iraq
An Affiliate Union with General Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (GFWCUI)

Dockers' solidarity strikes in USA and Iraq

Members of the Port Workers Union of Iraq plan to shutdown the ports of Umm Qasr and Khor Alzubair for one hour on May Day in solidarity with the shutdown of all West Coast ports by members of ILWU in opposition to the occupation of Iraq.

Osanloo meets family, comrades

For his eye treatment, Mansour Osanloo was taken out of Evin Prison today in Tehran.
There, for a short moment, he met with his family members and then with the union's leadership including Ebrahim Madadi and Saeed Torabian.

Some discussions took place about the union's plan of activities and Osanloo felt strongly that the independent workers and their trade unions celebrate May Day.
His doctors are once again making their reccommendation that at least a month is necessary to provide adequate treatment on his left eye.

Stop deportations to Iraq

Dashty Jamal of the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR):

“On 27 March 2008 the British government forcibly deported 60 Kurdish asylum seekers back to Hawler (Arbil, in Kurdistan/Iraq - JD) airport…By forcibly deporting the Iraqi asylum seekers the UK Home Office turned a blind eye to humanitarian principle and human rights laws. The asylum seekers arrived at Arbil airport at 3am in the morning. When they landed they were confused, tired and did not know where they had landed. When they refused to leave the plane the Home Office guards called the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) guards. Approximately twenty five KRG guards with guns boarded the plane. They pushed and threatened the asylum seekers off the plane and onto two waiting coaches. from the airport they were transported to Ain Kawa bridge (Ain Kawa is a small place near Arbil). They were left under the bridge, many of them injured and all having lost their luggage ane mobile phones.

“The asylum seekers who are victims of war now face severe problems and dangers in Iraq. The deportation may also encourage other European countries to take similar action.

“We call on individuals and organisations who are fighting for freedom and human rights to condemn forcible deportation of Iraqi asylum seekers and join our protest.”

Incidentally, some of those the Home Office tried to deport that day were not put on the flight and returned to various detention centres. They are still facing removal.

Inquiries/further information:

Dashty Jamal, International Federation of of Iraqi Refugees: d.jamal@ntlworld.com ; tel: 07856032991

IFIR and the Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq are planning ameeting in Parliament hosted by John McDonnell on Tuesday 29 April. For details contact Dashty, or Karen Johnson karen8johnson@btinternet.com ; tel: 078 0489 1082.

Lobby of the Home Office (Marsham Street, SW1P 4DF) from 12 to 2pm, Friday 11 April called by the Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq and the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR).

Mahmoud Salehi freed

According to the Committee in Defense of Mahmoud Salehi, Mahmoud Salehi, a well known and one of the most courageous labour leaders in Iran, was finally released today, Sunday, April 6, 2008 at 3:00 PM from the City of Sanandaj‘s central prison, where he had finished one-year jail term for his labour activities on March 23, 2008 but the authorities had refused to release him until today

http://mahmodsalehi.blogfa.com/

Mahmoud Salehi's life is in danger

You might have already been informed that Mahmoud Salehi, one of the well-known worker leaders in Iran, has been in prison since April 9, 2007. He is in prison for organising May Day celebrations in the city of Saqez and defending workers’ rights. Mahmoud Salehi is not in good health and his life is under threat. Salehi’s one-year prison term ends on March 23, 2008. However, yesterday Branch 4 of the Public Prosecutor's office of the city of Sanandaj summoned Mahmoud Salehi. Salehi is accused, this time, of communicating with outside of prison, of publishing messages in support of workers and students. The prosecutor’s office has issued a new temporary arrest for Mahmoud Salehi.

The Islamic Republic’s decision to keep Salehi in prison despite his grave health conditions is a criminal act. To protest this decision, Mahmoud Salehi has gone on total hunger strike (food and drink). Mahmoud Salehi’s life is under even greater danger now that he has made such a decision.

Neither celebrating May Day, nor issuing messages of solidarity with workers’ and students’ struggles is a crime. Mahmoud Salehi should be freed immediately and unconditionally and should be provided with necessary health-care.

To save Mahmoud Salehi’s life, immediate international action is required. This is the only way to put powerful enough pressure on the Islamic Republic regime in order to release Mahmoud Salehi, so that he would not have to continue with hunger strike and risk his life even further.

We request all workers’ organisations to act immediately on an international scale to save the life of Mahmoud Salehi and secure his immediate and unconditional release.

*Shahla Daneshfar,* *Coordinator, International Labour Solidarity
Committee of WPI*

Bahram Soroush**, Public relations*

*www.kargaran.org www.wpiran.org
www.rowzane.com*

*International Labour Solidarity Committee of the Worker-communist Party
of Iran (ILSC-WPI)*

*Head office:*

Co-ordinator: Shahla Daneshfar shahla_daneshfar@yahoo.com

Public Relations: Bahram Soroush bahram.soroush@gmail.com

*Around the world:*

*Australia*: Arsalan Nazeri ilscaustralianb@optusnet.com.au
*Belgium*: Hossein Pishehesan
workersiniran_belgique@yahoo.fr
*Canada*: Mehran Mahbobi workersiniranca@yahoo.ca
*Finland*: Abdol Golparian
workers_iniran@yahoo.com *Germany*:
Reza Nouri workeriniran_de@yahoo.de
*Norway*: Saber Rahimi workeriniran@yahoo.no
*Sweden*: Mamad Amiri
workersiniran_se@yahoo.se *UK*: Shiva
Mahbobi workersiniranuk@yahoo.com

150 at protest to defend Mehdi Kazemi

Over 150 people turned out on Saturday 22nd for a protest against the deportation of Iranian gay 19-year-old Mehdi Kazemi. Even though the Iranian regime has already executed his boyfriend, Mehdi is in limbo, with the Dutch government and the UK Home Office refusing to let him stay. The protest also highlighted the cases of Pegah Emambakhsh - an Iranian lesbian woman - and Jojo Yakob - a Syrian gay man - also under threat of deportation.

This turnout was particularly pleasing in that it came despite snowy weather and bitter cold. Dozens of activists came from outside London, including groups of students from Edinburgh, Leeds and Manchester.

Speakers such as Sofie Buckland (NUS NEC and Feminist Fightback) and David Broder (Middle East Workers' Solidarity) highlighted the inherent racism of the immigration system and called for the abolition of borders. Similarly, demonstrators chanted slogans including "No borders, no nations, stop deportations!" and "Mehdi must stay!"

They furthermore pointed to the homophobia of people like George Galloway who call themselves left-wing but have refused to back Mehdi Kazemi, instead leaping to the defence of Iran's theocracy. Opposing war does not mean we have to whitewash the Iranian regime - the anti-war movement needs to be honest if it is to deserve support.

Other speakers at the demonstration opposite Downing Street included Peter Tatchell, Scott Cuthbertson (NUS LGBT), Chris Strafford (Hands Off the People of Iran) and Dave Landau (who advertised next Saturday's conference of trade unions against immigration controls)

Middle East Workers' Solidarity will continue to defend Middle Eastern asylum seekers from deportation and highlight the issue of immigration controls, as well as opposing war and supporting unions and social movements in the region.

Action to defend Mehdi Kazemi March 22nd

On Saturday March 22nd at 2pm Middle East Workers' Solidarity will be staging a protest opposite Downing Street in defence of Mehdi Kazemi, a gay Iranian asylum seeker who the British government plans to send back to Iran on the grounds that if gay Iranians are "discreet about their sexuality", they will not get in trouble.

In fact, Mehdi Kazemi's boyfriend in Iran has already been executed for being gay, and the regime knows about Mehdi Kazemi and will likely kill him if he returns. We are demonstrating to demand that he should not be sent to his death in Iran, and that he should be allowed to stay in Britain if he so chooses.

Saturday March 22nd, 2pm, Downing Street. Nearest tube Westminster/Charing Cross

Mahmoud Salehi declares hunger strike

Monday March 17, 2008- According to the Committee in Defense of Mahmoud Salehi, Mr. Salehi was taken from Sanandaj Prison to branch 4 of the department of justice in Sanandaj on March 17, 2008. After making Mahmoud waiting for hours, they ordered a temporary arrest against him. They charged Mahmoud with communication and contacts with outside prison and issuing solidarity messages such as the one to those on hunger strike on Tir 27th 1386 (July 18, 2007) and also supporting freedom and equality seeking university students. This order was issued while Mahmoud’s one-year prison term was going to end on Farvardin 4th, 1387 (March 23, 2008), and his family and friends were expecting his release soon.

Immediately after this unjust order of arrest, Mahmoud went on dry hunger-strike to protest these unjust actions of government authorities to keep him in prison.

The Committee in Defense of Mahmoud Salehi has strongly condemned this new order to keep Mahmud in prison and demanded the unconditional and immediate release of Salehi.

Salehi’s health got seriously deteriorated last week while in jail. He completely passed out and was taken to hospital for a short period but was sent back to jail again. Salehi’s health does not allow him to be on hunger strike and his life would be at great risk; however, it is very clear that the government authorities are determined to keep him in prison and deny his freedom.

Stop the War demonstration 15 March

At the Stop the War demonstration on 15 March, the Middle East Workers’ Solidarity campaign gave out leaflets for the 22 March Mehdi Kazemi protest, copies of the 4-page news bulletin Workers in Struggle and furthermore collected almost £200 for Freedom and Equality Seeking Students in Iran.

Freedom and Equality are a group of socialist students opposed both to war and sanctions and to the Ahmedinejad regime, and many of their number are among the 81 students in prison following December’s protests at campuses across Iran.

Gay Syrian teenager faces deportation

In a case with close parallels to that of Mehdi Kazemi, a Syrian teenager is being threatened with deportation back to his homeland, where gay people are persecuted. The Syrian Embassy has described homosexuality as a "disease", which the country wants to "treat".

His only crime was to be gay. For that he was half-drowned, brutally beaten and then fell into a coma. He survived, escaped from jail, fled his country and eventually arrived, exhausted and bedraggled, here in Scotland. And now the Government wants to send him back.

Read more at Scotland on Sunday

El Al fires one ground crewmember and suspends another for inciting wildcat strike

El-Al ground stewards decided to bypass the company's excess weight charge in a wildcat responding to months` neglect in addressing grievances. In retaliation, the company rooted out the alleged ring-leaders, fired one and suspended the other.

See libcom.org's article...

Egyptian doctors demonstrate over pay

On Saturday March 15th Egyptian doctors staged a demonstration outside their Cairo union offices calling for an average wage of 1200 Egyptian pounds (around £100 sterling). The current average figure stands at just 220 Egyptian pounds (£20).

However, the doctors have suspended a two-hour strike which was meant to take place in public hospitals from 9am to 11am on the morning of the 15th.

Hani Fawzi, of the Alexandria Syndicate Council, said however that "the strike has not been cancelled... It has been postponed until further discussion, which will happen at the usual general assembly which convenes on Friday 21 March."

Fawzi commented that the union delayed the strike due to a shift in the stance of the Minister of Health. The minister has pledged to increase the salaries of resident doctors and emergency and intensive care physicians from July 2008.

However, given the clamour in the union to assert its right to go on strike (which is to be disputed in the Constitutional Court), and the anger about low wages and price inflation in Hosni Mubarak's Egypt, further industrial action seems likely.

Mehdi Kazemi review

The UK government has announced that it is to review the case of Mehdi Kazemi, which offers hope for anti-deportation activists who have campaigned in defence of the young Iranian gay man.

However, the fight is not over. Mehdi is not yet safe, and neither is Pegah Emambakhsh, the Iranian lesbian woman threatened with deportation. Neither has the government sorted out the racist and homophobic immigration system which has repeatedly sent LGBT people and others back into perilous situations in their 'home' countries.

We will be demonstrating as planned at 2pm on March 22nd opposite Downing Street.

Basra electricity workers' demo

From SB News

Demonstrations and sit-ins of electricity workers in the Euphrates East, Basra and Kut

The electricity Workers in many locations had organized series of protest rallies, on Monday morning 4-2-2008 after giving a warning to the Ministry of electricity in case their demands were not met.

The workers in the electricity sector had compiled a petition including their demands and threatened to organize Sit- in case of non-implementation of their demands, which focused on:
• Fighting corruption in the organs of the Ministry of Electricity
• Establish power stations to provide electricity throughout the country
• Build homes or buildings housing for workers electricity sector.
• To pay compensation on the basis of risk as a 75% percent of the salary
• Changing the employing system of the daily workers wages to the workers labor contracts
• Appointment System contract workers working on the permanent staffing


When the ministry did not respond to the workers' demands, thousands of workers from Basra, Musayyib and Hilla and Kut, started their sit in, which appealed by the union of the engineering jobs & technicians with FWCUI, Which is widely participated in demonstrations in Basra and Masayab where collected Electricity Workers Union.

Israeli Coffee Bean workers win agreement

Workers at the Coffee Bean coffee chain in Israel have won significant gains after a series of strikes over the last few months. The agreement marks the first recognition deal between the Histadrut union and a restaurant.

The agreement means that management will now allocate 10 percent of the chain's yearly profit to its employees, give workers employed for at least a year benefits between 50% and 100% of their salary, pay salaries and overtime on-time and according to the law, and give a one-off payment to compensate for not receiving tips between May 2006 and May 2007. The employers have also agreed to pay workers' taxi fares at night and on weekends when there is no public transport.

During the dispute, union organiser Alon Green, 19, was victimised and dismissed from his job at a Coffee Bean coffee shop. However, in November the Tel Aviv labour court ruled that this was unlawful, and instructed the company to rehire him.

Around 180 employees at 12 Coffee Bean branches in Israel are now represented by the Histadrut labour federation.

Palestinian workers' activist assaulted

Israeli soldiers assaulted a 53-year-old Palestinian worker at a checkpoint near Ramallah on Monday 10th.

Fawwaz Amarna, a resident of Shweika north of the West Bank city of Tulkarem, was treated at Thabit Thabit hospital after being beaten and bruised by the Israeli troops.

Amarna is an activist with the workers' movement in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). The DFLP workers' movement in Tulkarem issued a statement condemning the attack.

From Maan

George Galloway's comments on Mehdi Kazemi

Middle East Workers' Solidarity have called a demonstration for March 22nd in defence of Mehdi Kazemi, and support the international campaign against his deportation to Iran.

We were therefore extremely disappointed to hear today the comments of George Galloway MP on a Channel 5 talk show, playing down the homophobic nature of the Iranian regime and slandering Mehdi Kazemi's boyfriend. Among other comments, Galloway alleged that Mehdi's boyfriend had not been hanged because he was gay, but instead because of "sex crimes with young men".

Galloway went on to insinuate that those who defend Kazemi are adding to "propaganda against Iran", implying that they support a war drive against that country.

Galloway's claims are ill-informed and non-sensical, even beyond the obvious fact that Iran has repeatedly executed men for being gay, since "sodomy" is a capital offense, and does not even spare under-18s who commit this "crime".

It is also nonsense to claim that criticising the British government for planning to deport a man whose life is in danger in some way amounts to supporting its imperialist ambitions. Indeed, what activists including Middle East Workers' Solidarity campaigners are doing is highlighting the government's contempt for democracy and human rights.

Nor do we accept that opposing war and sanctions against Iran - which we do, wholeheartedly, since it can bring no progress - means whitewashing the Ahmedinejad regime and pretending that it is a bastion of democracy. The anti-war movement needs to tell the truth if it is to deserve to get a hearing. Opposing war is part of our solidarity effort, but not to the exclusion of our other principles.

The video of Galloway's comments is here

Pegah Emambakhsh faces deportation to Iran

An Iranian lesbian who fled to Britain after her girlfriend was arrested and sentenced to death faces being forcibly returned after losing the latest round in her battle to be granted asylum.

From the Independent

New website for Mehdi Kazemi campaigners

There is a new website for the international campaign to defend Mehdi Kazemi, the young Iranian gay man who is being threatened with deportation back to Iran and execution.

The site is at www.medhikazemi.com

Yesterday a Dutch court decided to reject Mehdi's application for asylum, on the grounds that his case is a matter for the UK government to which he originally applied for asylum.

New report about women in Iraq

Here is a link to a new report about the situation of women in the wake of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, confronted as they are by increased violence and fundamentalist oppression as well as violence perpetrated by occupation troops.

Arab and Jewish women march for International Women's Day

On 8th March the Israeli-Palestinian workers' organising campaign Workers' Advice Centre-Maan took part in the celebration of International Women's Day by staging a joint Arab-Jewish women's march against unemployment and low-paid work.

WAC-Maan explained,

"On International Women’s Day (Saturday 8 March) hundreds of women will march through the streets of Tel Aviv. These women, mostly agricultural workers from the Galilee and the Triangle and organized through WAC, will march to assert their right to work under fair conditions to lift themselves out of poverty. Most Arab women in Israel do not work. Only around 17% are part of the labor force, and among these few, unemployment is rife. It is no surprise, then, that almost half the Arab citizens of Israel live in poverty, and two out of every three Arab children are poor.

"Arab women are not the only ones living in poverty. Tens of thousands of contract and manpower agency workers, temporary workers, waitresses, single mothers, Mizrahi women, immigrants and migrant workers are also under the poverty line. They are the first victims of policies that lead to widening gaps between the poor on one hand and the affluent on the other, who blame the poor for their poverty.

"The government speaks eloquently about the need to encourage women to work, but in practice it continues to allow the import of cheap labor, is a central factor in enabling employment through manpower agencies that pay less than the minimum wage, and turns a blind eye to substandard work conditions – all this after destroying the safety net provided by the welfare state. Thus a situation has been created in which women who work remain in poverty."

Mehdi must stay – No deportations to Iran

Peter Tatchell speaks out in defence of gay Iranian asylum seeker Mehdi Kazemi

Gay Iranian asylum applicant Mehdi Kazemi is in detention in the Netherlands. He is fighting attempts by the Dutch government to return him to the UK.

Mehdi fled Britain and sought asylum in the Netherlands because the British government wants to deport him back to Iran. The gay human rights group OutRage! campaigns on asylum issues and supports Mehdi Kazemi’s claim for refugee status. OutRage! spokesperson Peter Tatchell said

"The Home Office decision to deport Mehdi back to Iran is shameful and reckless. If returned to Tehran, he will be at risk of imprisonment, torture and execution. Gay men in Iran are hanged from public cranes using the barbaric method of slow strangulation, which is deliberately designed to cause maximum suffering. This deportation order borders on a criminal decision. It violates the government's legal obligations under the Refugee Convention. The Home Office country report on Iran ignores the true scale of homophobic repression, in order to justify the deportation of lesbian and gay Iranians. I have been tipped off by a senior Home Office official that government orders are to cut asylum numbers at almost any price. Staff are encouraged to assume that all asylum applicants are bogus and to play down the merits of individual cases, such as Medhi’s".

Background

Here is the Everyone organisation’s link about Medhi's case. Please scroll down to read Mehdi’s own statement, as given to the Iranian Queer Rights Organisation:

Need to reform the handling of LGBT asylum claims

“The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith MP, must urgently remedy her department's five failings with regard to the treatment of LGBT asylum claimants,” added Mr Tatchell.

“Currently, the Home Office stands accused of:

- No training on sexual orientation issues for asylum staff and adjudicators
- No explicit official policy supporting the right of refugees to claim asylum on the grounds of sexual orientation
- No action to stamp out the abuse of LGBT refugees in UK asylum detention camps
- No accurate, up-to-date information on the victimisation of LGBT people in violently homophobic countries
- No access to adequate legal representation for LGBT asylum applicants

“These are systemic failings by a callous and indifferent government that is more interested in cutting asylum numbers than in ensuring a fair, just and compassionate asylum system,” concluded Mr Tatchell.

"workers in struggle" issue one

The first issue of the Middle East Workers' Solidarity newsletter Workers in Struggle has been produced.

It features articles on the strike wave in Egypt, the imprisonment of trade unionists and student activists in Iran, the plan of US dockers to strike against the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, the Israeli assault on Gaza and other short news pieces about strikes in the Middle East.

We will be handing this out at the March 15th Stop the War demo as well as the March 8th Palestine protest at Downing Street.

Click here for the pdf file

Mahmoud Salehi’s message for the March 6th Global Day of Action

Mahmoud Salehi is the founding member of the Trade Association of Bakery Workers in Saqez, Iranian Kurdistan, and has been locked up by the regime for his organising efforts, despite his significant heart and kidney problems. He sent this message from his cell in reaction to international protests for his release.

The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and their affiliates along with colleagues of the Global Union Federation are organising an international action day on March 6th for workers’ rights in Iran and the freedom of Mansour Osanloo and me (Mahmoud Salehi). For my part, I gracefully appreciate such militant actions.

We must not part from the struggle for the creation of independent workers’ organisations!

A workers’ movement has grown in the context of aggravation of economic crisis, factory close downs, mass dismissal of workers, excessive increase of inflation that lowered the working people’s purchasing power, and generally widening of the class gap… as the result of all this workplaces have turned into a battle field of class struggle for workers in order to meet their demands. Worker activists were raised and taken their roles within such struggles.

The close relationship between these fed-up masses and progressive workers has helped labour activists to adapt their views and behaviour to the realities of life and struggles of workers. Consequently, they have conveyed the proper ways of thinking and acting towards mass workers. Living and working with their co-workers, activists are telling them that the only way out of this terrifying misery, from poverty and starvation, from unemployment, from collective dismissal, and so on, is to fight with the capitalist system and to organise independent workers’ organizations. They tell their colleagues that an independent worker’s organisation will empower them against the harsh onslaught of capitalism; that with their labour organisation, they will be in a better position in their battle with capitalists; that they can set their wages up from a powerful position. Through their independent organisations, workers can make gains through struggle, step by step.

Dear honorable and hard-working colleagues and fellow workers!

As the result of the efforts of honest labour movement activists, international rights’ organisations are now recognizing us as a working class with legitimate demands. As one of the labour activists, who is imprisoned in this capitalist country, I am proud to see such a day in the name of workers in Iran because I now know that the world’s working class has never easily accepted the imprisonment of these activists and has always fought for their freedom. They will not let the persecution and imprisonment of workers to become an obstacle or barrier in their rightful struggle.

On March 6th, I will be joyful, even behind the bars of my cell, dreaming of unity and solidarity amongst workers. At this day, workers in Iran should be cheerful while their enemies would grieve!

I will see myself among you, arm in arm, by your side and fighting with you; and I, along with you, will emphasise that we must not part from the struggle for the creation of independent workers’ organisations!

Mahmoud Salehi - Central Prison of the City of Sanandaj, Iran
March 04, 2008

Another Israel: dissident voices from Israel

12th March 2008, 7:00pm, NUT, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, off Euston Road, London NW1


Speakers include

* Michel Warschawski (founder of the Alternative Information Centre),
* Eyal Weizman (architect, author of The Hollow Land)
* Eyal Sivan (film-maker of award-winning documentaries on Palestine-Israel)
* Daphna Baram (journalist, author of Disenchantment: The Guardian and Israel)
* Matan Cohen (from Israeli 'Anarchists Against The Wall')
* Judith Keshet Israeli Writer and Activist

Iran’s trade unionists call out from the prison cells

Iranian trade unionists Mansour Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi are experiencing terrible conditions in prison, with the regime showing the utmost contempt for their welfare. The pair, alongside almost a hundred of student activists, have been locked up by an unpopular regime cracking down on a rising tide of popular discontent.

While the media in Britain portrays Iranian politics as a battle between Islamist ‘conservatives’ and more liberal ‘reformists’ like former president Mohammad Khatami, in fact the divisions in Iran go deeper than disputes between different sections of the elite. A new left is shaking Iranian society.

Independent trade unions and social movements have rejected both the politics of the regime and the empty ‘democratic’ promises of US imperialism, and are waging a desperate struggle for a democracy enshrining workers’, women’s, LGBT and minority nationalities’ rights.

It appears that repression has stepped up in the last few months, with massive reprisals against the student movement. Hundreds bravely demonstrated at sites including Tehran University in December, raising slogans such as “No to imperialist war, death to the dictator “ and “The university is not an army garrison!”. After mass arrests, it is feared that as many as 81 of these students are still in jail.

One of those arrested, law student Ebrahim Latif Allahi, was murdered in Sanandaj prison. His family were told that “he had committed suicide in prison”, and that “his body has already been buried” – but they are convinced that he died during torture.

This assertion seems highly likely, given the similar brutal treatment of Mansour Osanloo, Iran’s best known trade unionist, who has repeatedly been kidnapped, assaulted and imprisoned for “attempts to jeopardise national security”. Currently serving a five-year sentence after leading bus workers’ strikes in Tehran, he has been blinded in one eye in prison.

The same goes for Mahmoud Salehi, the founding member of the trade Association of Bakery Workers in Saqez, Kurdistan. Imprisoned for his attempts to organise a union, he has fallen seriously ill in jail. But despite having been diagnosed with a blocked blood vessel in his heart, and the doctor’s recommendation that he be kept under medical supervision for at least a week, the prison authorities have sent Salehi back to his cell and denied him even the right to stay in the prison’s medical unit. In hospital Salehi's leg was cuffed to the bed, while his wife was threatened with arrest for protesting when a prison guard tried to assault her.

On March 6th Middle East Workers’ Solidarity activists participated in the international day of solidarity with Iranian trade unionists, which in Britain included mass leafleting at King’s Cross station in London (backed by the RMT railworkers’ union) as well as a demonstration at the Iranian Embassy.

Responding to the call of the International Transport workers’ Federation, trade unionists protested in solidarity with Osanloo and Salehi across the globe – from Australia to Ethiopia, from India to Indonesia, the international labour movement is slowly waking up to the cause of working-class resistance to the dictator Ahmedinejad.

► Part of our solidarity with our comrades in Iran is opposition to any war, bombing raids or sanctions, which can only serve to undermine the workers’ movement. MEWS activists will be leafleting the Stop the War demo on March 15th and collecting money for Iranian student organisations. Contact middleeastworkerssolidarity@googlemail.com
for more info – why not join us?

News in brief

►iraq – The leader of Iraq's journalists' union, Shihab al-Tamimi, has died in hospital. He was shot in the chest on February 23rd, and as a result died of heart attack. An independent journalist working for many local newspapers, al-Tamimi was a fierce critic of Iraq's sectarian militias and called for an end to the civil war. He is the 270th Iraqi journalist to have been killed in the violence since the 2003 invasion.

►jordan – 200 Vietnamese migrant workers, mostly women, struck for more than two weeks in protest at being forced to work long hours for just £50 per month, when they had been promised a rate of £100.
The footwear machinists’ strike was repressed by the Jordanian police, who sided with the security guards and joined in beating the workers. This despite the fact that the Jordanian Labour Ministry investigators had found the workers to be starving and bruised.
The workers, who were taken to Jordan by a Vietnamese agency, are demanding that they be allowed to return home.

►lebanon – Unions seem likely to force Prime Minister Siniora to grant an increase in the minimum wage. The unions are complaining that the minimum wage (on which one-third of Lebanese subsist) has been frozen for ten years, with the result that purchasing power fell 15 per cent last year. With a mounting £22 billion public debt and chronic power shortages in working-class areas, they say that Siniora is presiding over economic disaster.

US dockers call for strike to end occupation of Iraq

A motion passed by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union conference

FOR WORKERS' ACTION TO STOP THE WAR

WHEREAS: On May 1, 2003, at the ILWU Convention in San Francisco
resolutions were passed calling for an end to the war and occupation
in Iraq; and

WHEREAS: ILWU took the lead among labor unions in opposing this bloody
war and occupation for imperial domination; and

WHEREAS: Many unions and the overwhelming majority of the American
people now oppose this bipartisan and unjustifiable war in Iraq and
Afghanistan but the two major political parties, Democrats and
Republicans continue to fund the war; and

WHEREAS: Millions worldwide have marched and demonstrated against the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but have been unable to stop the wars; and

WHEREAS: ILWU's historic dock actions,

1) like the refusal of Local 10 longshoremen to load bombs for the
military dictatorship in Chile in 1978 and military cargo to the
Salvadoran military dictatorship in 1981 and

2) the honoring of the teachers' union antiwar picket May 19, 2007
against SSA in the port of Oakland stand as a limited but shining
example of how to oppose these wars; and

WHEREAS: The spread of war in the Middle East is threatened with U. S.
air strikes in Iran or possible military intervention in Syria or the
destabilized Pakistan;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That it is time to take labor's protest to a more powerful level of
struggle by calling on unions and working people in the U. S. and
internationally to mobilize for a "No Peace No Work Holiday" May 1,
2008 for 8 hours to demand an immediate end to the war and occupation
in Iraq and Afghanistan and the withdrawal of U. S. troops from the
Middle East; and

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED:

That a clarion call from the ILWU be sent with an urgent appeal for
unity of action to the AFL-CIO, the Change to Win Coalition and all of
the international labor organizations to which we are affiliated to
bring an end to this bloody war once and for all.

Submitted by:

ILWU Local 10

passed overwhelmingly after thorough debate

If you need any further information or wish to send messages of support and solidarity please contact Bob McEllrath, International President, ILWU, 1188 Franklin Street, San Francisco, California 94109.

Tel: (+1 415) 775 0533 Fax: (+1 415) 775 1302. Email: robert.mcellrath@ilwu.org

Messages of support and solidarity should also be sent to ILWU Local 10 President Melvin Mackay
fax (+1 415) 441 0610 and/or melmackay@aol.com

Please send copies to dockers@gn.apc.org (sacked Liverpool dockers)

Israeli jets bomb Palestinian trade union HQ

On the night of February 28th Israeli jets levelled the five-storey Gaza headquarters of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)with three heavy F-16 missiles.

The "Folk House building" in Gaza City had been used for union-administered health care as well as organising. But this fresh Israeli atrocity has changed all that.

The complete destruction of the building not only means severe hardship for Palestinian trade unionists, but the death of one Palestinian and 37 other casualties, many of them children. It badly damaged numerous homes, and destroyed the area's electricity and water supply.

The attack came as part of Israel's continuing "collective punishment" of Gaza, which in one four-day period killed one hundred and ten Palestinians, one third of them children.

"The occupation doesn't need any justifications to commit crimes against Palestinians," said Nabil al-Mabhouh, acting head of the PGFTU in Gaza. But the building was targeted because "we at PGFTU are supporting the rights of tens of thousands of Palestinian workers."

The PGFTU has put out a call for solidarity, commenting "We call for an appropriate and effective response from the international trade unions and the International Labour Organisation to put compel Israel to compensate the PGFTU for the destruction of the Folk House in Gaza."

- Demonstrate against the Israeli onslaught - 4pm, Saturday 8th March, Downing Street, London (Westminster tube)

International day of action for trade unionists in Iran

Demonstrate for Mansour Osanloo, Mahmoud Salehi and union rights in Iran

On Thursday 6 March there will be a trade union demonstration outside the Iranian Embassy in London as part of a worldwide day of action against the repression and harassment of trade unionists in Iran.

The RMT railworkers' union has called for activists to meet for leafletting King's Cross station from 7:30am, hopefully covering as many of the exits as possible.

Furthermore, a demonstration will be held from 12:30 to 1:30pm outside the Iranian Embassy at 16 Prince's Gate, London SW7 1PT.

The international day of action has been called by the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF). Here is a location map for the event.

Egyptian workers step up

An article on recent working-class struggles in Egypt by Sacha Ismail of Workers' Liberty

The class struggle in Egypt, rising since 2006, has reached a new pitch in the last few weeks.

On Sunday 16 February, more than 10,000 workers from the Misr (Egypt) Spinning and Weaving Company textile mill in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla el-Kubra, north of Cairo, staged a mass demonstration against prices rices, low wages and the regime of Hosni Mubarak, joined by thousands more working-class people from the town. The Mahalla workers' action was followed by similar, smaller-scale actions and protests by workers across Egypt.

The Mahalla factory, which employs 27,000 people, has been the site of huge workers’ struggles since December 2006, when nearly the entire workforce went on strike over withheld bonuses. In September last year, 15,000 workers were on strike again over profit-sharing, safety and bonuses, leading to a confrontation with riot police; and there have been struggles over issues including services at the company hospital and the provision of free bread to workers.


The difference this time is that the workers’ action has been much more directly political. In previous struggles, there were appeals to Mubarak’s government to intervene; on Sunday, according to California-based journalist and blogger Hossam el-Hamalawy (one of the very few sources about strikes in Egypt), workers shouted slogans including "Down, down Hosni Mubarak! Your rule is shit!" and "Gamal Mubarak, tell your dad we hate him!" (a reference to Mubarak’s son and heir apparent).

Hamalawy also reports that the Mahalla workers attempted, before being blocked by police, to organise a demonstration in solidarity with the people of Gaza: evidence of impressive politicisation, even if, like Hamalawy's blog, such actions are polluted by Arab nationalist chauvinism against Israel.

The target for the workers' action was the convening, in the context of big increases in the price of basic commodities, of the National Council of Wages, which sets Egypt’s minimum wage. The minimum wage has been held at not much more than £3 a month since 1984, despite soaring inflation; the Mahalla workers have demanded £112 a month, while the representatives of Egypt’s official General Federation of Trade Unions on the Council have been calling for £55. Including profit sharing, a Mahalla worker currently makes about £40 a month. The government has now announced that the rate will be raised to about £25, making further protests very likely.

Even on official estimates, a fifth of Egypt's population, 13 million people, lives below the poverty line. As another of the slogans from the Mahalla demonstration put it: "We are sick of eating beans while the rich eat chickens and pigeons".

When protests began in the factory on 16 February, the bosses once again called in riot police, but the workers stormed the gates and drove them off before marching into town.

This inspiring class struggle has enormous significance. The textile workers are in many ways the vanguard of the Egyptian working class. The December 2006 strike was followed by action in many other sectors – including rail workers, nurses, cement workers, binmen and tax collectors. Cairo’s leading independent and broadly liberal newspaper, al-Masri al-Youm, estimates that 226 sit-ins, strikes, hunger strikes and workers’ demonstrations took place in 2006; Hamalawy estimates 387 actions in the first six months of 2007.

This time, the Mahalla struggle has quickly been followed with action by other textile workers, by Suez Canal workers, train drivers, nurses and electricity company lawyers, as well as by working-class protests against housing costs. Meanwhile, doctors are threatening strike action on 15 March if the health ministry does not come up with a better pay offer; and real estate tax collectors, 55,000 of whom went on strike and occupied downtown Cairo last year, have been fighting to establish organisation independent from the official trade unions and discussing the possibility of an independent union.

This is the first time that large-scale workers’ demonstrations have raised clear anti-government slogans since the bread riots against the regime of Anwar Sadat in 1977. And the entry of the working class onto the political stage means that Mubarak is being challenged from the left, and not just by the Muslim Brotherhood, whose activists are also struggling against severe repression.

The Brotherhood remains what it always has been: a deeply reactionary and counter-revolutionary Islamist organisation. Yet it is also the biggest and best organised opposition force in Egypt; it does fight repression by the regime (for instance by mobilising thousands of students to protest against the detention of academics at the end of February) and sometimes gives demagogic support to workers' struggles.

Nonetheless, according to Hamalawy, the Mahalla action was fomented not by Islamists but by left activists inside the factory (which is not to say that the Brotherhood has no influence among the workers, of course).

The growth of mass workers' struggles in Egypt signifies between by far the biggest Arab working class and a deeply oppressive regime which is one of the US’s key allies, receiving $1.3 billion dollars a year in military aid, for instance. It means that both Egypt and Iran, the largest economies in the Middle East, are wracked by class struggle – holding out the prospect, distant but real, of workers’ revolution to sweep away all the region’s ruling classes, whether pro or anti-US.

As Hossam el-Hamalawy put it in September: "During my phone conversations with the strikes leaders and activists inside the company, they always ask me if people in America and the world have heard about the strike." We need to make sure the world knows, and that its labour movements mobilise solidarity.

- Hossam el-Hamalawy's blog: arabist.net/arabawy

- LabourStart coverage of Egypt: www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Egypt

Iranian Workers' Bulletin

The January/February issue of the Iranian Workers' Bulletin, which features in-depth coverage of the Iranian labour movement, is now available.

This month's issue features extensive coverage of the situation of imprisoned trade unionists such as Tehran Bus Workers' Union leader Mansour Osanloo as well as Mahmoud Salehi, organiser of the Bakery Workers' Trade Association. Both are suffering severe health problems due to the negligence of the Iranian regime as the two are kept in captivity.

The bulletin also has news of 5,000 workers at the state owned Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company taking repeated strike action and forming a new independent union, along with the one-day action action of 3,000 Alborz tyre factory workers who had not been paid for four months.

Click here to see the bulletin