On December 23, 2011, U.S. Labor Against the War sent this solidarity statement to the unions in Iraq.

Dear Comrades in the Iraqi Labor Movement:

U.S. Labor Against the War recognizes that the end to formal U.S. military occupation of Iraq does not end continuing U.S. interference in the internal affairs of Iraq. The Maliki regime has given
permission to the U.S. to continue to operate unarmed Predator drones from Iraqi
bases, purportedly to provide the Turkish government with intelligence on the
activities of PKK fighters operating in the mountains of Iraq. These can be
armed and redeployed elsewhere in Iraq whenever the U.S. desires.

Many thousands of private mercenary security forces will remain and the U.S.
government has constructed the largest embassy in the world to manage and direct
its continuing interference in Iraqi affairs. It may redeploy many of the
departing troops to bases in Kuwait and other areas in the region, positioned to
reenter Iraq on short notice if U.S. interests appear to be threatened.

The Maliki regime is a political creation of the U.S. occupation, not a
legitimate expression of the democratic will of the Iraqi people. Already
parties that had been cobbled together to provide Maliki with a majority in
Parliament have abandoned him as he aggravates sectarian tensions for partisan
advantage. As a predictable outcome of the U.S. divide and conquer policies that
pitted religious, sectarian, ethnic and regional interests against one another,
Iraq will now likely see escalating sectarian conflict. The responsibility for
this belongs first and foremost to the U.S. government.

Predatory multinational corporations have not abandoned their plans to gain control over
Iraq’s abundant oil and gas reserves. Therefore, the struggle by the Iraqi
people to regain full sovereignty over the nation’s natural resources will
continue because the neo-liberal scheme to privatize the Iraqi economy has not
been abandoned.

The struggle to establish human and labor rights will continue because under U.S. occupation, those rights were a fiction, and were and continue to be regularly violated. The Iraqi government has ignored the country’s own constitution, which calls for the adoption of a basic labor rights
law that conforms to international standards, and continues to enforce the 1987
antiunion decree of the dictatorship, adding even more repressive edicts in an
effort to cripple the Iraqi labor movement and suppress the movement for true
democratic rights. In this the U.S. and Maliki regime will fail because the
Iraqi labor movement will not forfeit its rights. The will of the Iraqi people
for a true democracy and Iraqi sovereignty will prove stronger than the schemes
of a corrupt regime that serves as a willing pawn for U.S. interests.

The U.S. debt to Iraqis will not be paid by the withdrawal of U.S. military forces.
We consider it our honor and duty to stand in solidarity with you, to hold our
government to account, to demand that our government abandon its interference in
the internal affairs of Iraq, to struggle in support of your national
sovereignty and human and labor rights, and to demand that reparations without
strings be paid for the horrific damage inflicted on Iraq and its people.

The U.S. military was driven from Iraq by the iron resolve of the Iraqi
people to be free of all foreign domination, supported by the solidarity of U.S.
and other antiwar forces around the world which finally made it politically
untenable for the occupation to continue. The work of U.S. Labor Against the
War, founded nine years ago in January in response to the threat of the illegal
U.S. invasion, does not end with the departure of U.S. troops. The bonds of
solidarity USLAW forged with the Iraqi labor movement through nine years of
struggle will continue.

We extend to you and the courageous labor movement and working people of Iraq our heartfelt wishes for peace, democracy, justice, security and sovereignty in the new year.

Yours in solidarity and struggle,

USLAW Co-convenors: Kathy Black, Gene Bruskin, Bob Muehlenkamp, Brooks Sunkett, Nancy Wohlforth, Michael Zweig

Staff: National Coordinator Michael Eisenscher, National Organizer Tom Gogan, Administrative Coordinator Adrienne Nicosia

On behalf of the Steering Committee and 195 labor organizations affiliated with U.S. Labor Against the War

Saturday, April 9

March and Rally:
END THE WARS ! FUND THE PEOPLE !

Gather for march at Noon at the Federal Building plaza (300 E. 8th St.)
Rally at the Capitol at 1:00 PM

While the US is engaging in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, and giving billions of dollars in aid to Israel, which continues to threaten the Palestinians, we are left with Governors like Wisconsin’s Scott Walker Texas’ Rick Perry, who want to strip us of our labor rights, lay off teachers, close our schools, and deny us health care.  Meanwhile, big corporations pollute our environment, make record profits, and pay low or no taxes.  These priorities are upside down!  Come to a rally to demand an end to the wars abroad and a re-direction of funding to basic services for the people: education, healthcare, infrastructure, jobs, clean air and water.

Sponsored by: Iraq Veterans Against the War-Austin, Veterans for Peace-Austin, Sustainable Options for Youth, Under the Hood Cafe, Palestine Solidarity Committee, CodePink-Austin, International Socialist Organization, Nuke Free Texas, and more.  For more information or to co-sponsor: [email protected]

see also United National Antiwar Committee, http://www.nationalpeaceconference.org/

RESOLUTION 16

End the Silence on Labor Rights in Iraq

Submitted by Alameda Labor Council (Calif.), San Mateo County Central Labor Council (Calif.), Washington-Orange-Lamoille Labor Council (Vt.) and Wisconsin State AFL-CIO

WHEREAS, after more than six years of military occupation, more than 4,300 U.S.  and as many as a million or more Iraqi lives have been lost and our government has spent nearly $650 billion of taxpayer funds on the military occupation of Iraq, and yet real democracy in Iraq still remains more of an aspiration than reality; and

WHEREAS, one of the fundamental building blocks of a democratic society is the right of workers to join unions of their choice free of government interference, domination, harassment or repression; and

WHEREAS, after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S.  nullified most of the repressive Saddam era legal code, but kept on the books and continued to enforce a 1987 law that Saddam Hussein imposed making it illegal for public-sector and public enterprise employees to join unions or negotiate the terms of their employment; and

WHEREAS, the subsequent Iraqi Interim Governing Authority continued to enforce this undemocratic denial of worker rights, and the newly elected Iraqi government imposed additional restrictions on worker and union rights, including seizure and freezing of union bank accounts and assets; and

WHEREAS, U.S.  and Iraqi forces raided and ransacked union offices and assaulted and detained union leaders, and management of public enterprises, including the oil industry, was directed not to recognize or bargain with unions; and

WHEREAS, a vibrant pluralistic independent labor movement continues to grow in Iraq despite harassment, beatings, kidnappings, detention, torture and even murder of trade union activists; and

WHEREAS, Article 22, Section 3 of the new Iraqi Constitution promises respect for worker rights, foremost freedom of association and calls upon the Iraqi government to enact a law that guarantees the right to form unions; and

WHEREAS, Iraq is also a 1962 signatory to ILO Convention 98 on the right to organize and collectively bargain (which, ironically, the United States has yet to ratify), thereby also imposing a treaty obligation under international law to respect worker rights; and

WHEREAS, the ILO assisted the Iraqi government to draft a basic labor law that conforms to the requirements of the Iraqi constitution and international norms for respect of labor rights and yet the Iraqi government has refused to present that law to the Parliament for adoption; and

WHEREAS, these transgressions of fundamental labor and human rights have taken place for more than six years without a word of criticism from the U.S.  government to Iraqi authorities and it is long past time for the U.S.  government to speak up for the rights of Iraqi workers and unions; and

WHEREAS, respect for and enforcement of labor rights anywhere encourages respect for and enforcement of labor rights everywhere, including in the United States;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO adopt this resolution and urge the U.S.  government to strongly call upon the Iraqi government to live up to the terms of its own constitution and international treaty obligations by:

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO shall send a copy of this resolution to the U.S. government through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with an additional copy to the Iraqi government through its embassy in Washington, D.C.; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO urge its state and area labor federations and central labor councils to concur with this resolution and communicate that concurrence to the U.S. government by notice to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Iraqi government through its embassy in Washington, D.C.; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO shall participate in the campaign for labor rights in Iraq by circulating the petition in support of those rights initiated by U.S. Labor Against the War.

RESOLUTION 52

Bring All the Troops and Contractors Home!

Submitted by Alameda Labor Council (Calif.)
Amended by the International Labor Committee

WHEREAS, the 2005 AFL-CIO convention resolved that “Our soldiers…deserve a commitment from our country’s leaders to bring them home rapidly.  An unending military presence will waste lives and resources, undermine our nation’s security and weaken our military;” and

WHEREAS, at the time of that convention, 1,700 U.S.  troops had already lost their lives in Iraq, and today there are more than 4,300 U.S.  dead and more than 30,000 seriously wounded; and

WHEREAS, the nation confronts the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression and as a consequence millions of workers have lost their jobs or suffered cuts in working hours and wages, social programs and government services are being cut or eliminated across the country for lack of resources while our country has spent $650 billion in Iraq already and nearly $900 billion since 2001, including Afghanistan; and

WHEREAS, under terms of the Status of Forces Agreement signed by the Bush administration, U.S.  forces will remain in Iraq until the end of
2011, and will continue to engage in combat and suffer casualties as long as they remain in that country; and

WHEREAS, in March 2008, Barack Obama said, “It is past time to end this war that should never have been waged by bringing our troops home, and finally pushing Iraq’s leaders to take responsibility for their future.  As we do, we must serve the memory of all who have died as well as they who served our country, by providing support for their families, caring for our troops and veterans and upholding the American values which our fallen heroes exemplified through their service”; and

WHEREAS, at its 2005 convention, the AFL-CIO called for “rapid” withdrawal from Iraq—and four years later, 130,000 troops and 190,000 contractors are still in Iraq;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Alameda County Labor Council reaffirms its opposition to the continuing military occupation of Iraq and calls for the speedy* withdrawal of all military forces and armed contractors from Iraq; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Alameda County Labor Council calls upon the Congress and president to redirect the resources now squandered in Iraq to meeting the urgent needs of the American people, restoring and fully funding vital social programs and public services, developing sustainable technologies to address global warming, creating quality long-term jobs that provide a decent living, rebuilding the Gulf Coast and our nation’s infrastructure and a host of other needs that will provide our country with real security; and

Tell Hillary Clinton to speak out for labor rights in Iraq.

SIGN THE PETITION

Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S. and Iraqi governments have continued to enforce Saddam Hussein’s 1987 law that bars unions and collective bargaining in all public sector and enterprise workplaces.

Iraqi unions have organized (at great risk and with great sacrifices) but without the protection of a basic labor law, even though the Iraqi constitution requires one and Iraq is signatory to the International Labor Organization Convention on the right to organize and bargain.

Union leaders and activists have suffered harassment, beatings, detention, torture and even assassination.  Union offices have been raided and vandalized by US and Iraqi troops.  Union bank accounts and assets have been frozen.

Through all this, the U.S. government has remained silent.

U.S. Labor Against the War has posted a petition that calls upon Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as the principal foreign policy representative of the government, to speak out for labor rights in Iraq and press the Iraqi government to respect and protect the rights of workers and unions.

Please take a moment to add your voice to the international movement in solidarity with the courageous unions and workers of Iraq.

When we strengthen labor rights in Iraq, we also strengthen our fight for labor rights right here in the U.S.

SIGN THE PETITION HERE

US Labor Against the War www.uslaboragainstwar.org

Activists will present a resolution opposing the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at the general assembly of the Texas State Employees Union/CWA Local 6186, to be held Oct. 3 – 5 in Austin. The resolution will be an endorsement of the antiwar resolution passed in June at the national convention of the Communication Workers of America, TSEU’s parent union.

Here’s the CWA resolution. We will publish the proposed TSEU resolution when its wording is finalized.

2008 CWA Convention Resolution: Working for Peace and Labor Rights in Iraq
Communications Workers of America
June 28th, 2008
Resolution 70A-08-9

The military actions of the Bush administration in the Middle East have reached a critical point, one which may commit future administrations to an expanded war. The costs of that war are now running over $341 million per day and total more than $531 billion to date. These costs will be borne by generations to come.

The money spent on this war could be spent to repair our nation’s infrastructure and restore social programs that have been devastated by years of Republican neglect. But the cost in human Iives is even more important, with 4,104 of our young men and women killed to date, over 30,000 wounded, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children killed.

The Iraqi labor movement also has been devastated. It is increasingly dangerous to be a union leader in Iraq. The Iraqi labor movement reports that union property has been seized and destroyed, bank accounts have been frozen, and leaders have been abducted, arrested and assassinated. With their lives in danger, many labor leaders have been forced to leave the country.

Following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Coalition Provisional Authority kept intact a 1987 decree by Saddam Hussein outlawing unions in the public sector and in public enterprises. This ban has been continued by the current government of Nouri Al-Maliki. In place of free union elections, the government is imposing an elections process. This is an affront to the principles of free trade unionism and counter to the Iraqi government’s 2004 pledge to create a law that would comply with International Labor Organization (ILO) standards and guarantee workers the right to form their own trade unions.

A coalition of international labor rights organizations, including the AFL-CIO, is calling for the lraqi government to cease its interference with lraqi unions and to respect workers’ rights to form unions. In the United States, local unions, state and regional labor organizations and others have built a solidarity network – U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW). USLAW has sponsored two visits by lraqi trade unionists to the United States and continues to provide a key link between U.S. workers and our brothers and sisters in the Iraqi labor movement.

RESOLVED: CWA continues to support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and believes that the best support is to bring them home and give them all medical treatment, care and benefits they need and deserve.

RESOLVED: CWA encourages all Locals to unite with labor unions here and internationally in the growing movement against the war and to deepen their active solidarity with the Iraqi trade unionists.

RESOLVED: CWA Joins with the AFL-CIO and other labor organizations to call on the lraqi government to take immediate steps to bring Iraq into compliance with International Labor Organization core labor standards.

Following days of demonstrations and strikes by thousands of workers, the Iraqi government reversed its order to cut wages by up to 30% and eliminate many industrial labor benefits.  The authorities agreed to direct negotiations with the representatives of the workers.

Workers were able to achieve a number of major demands, such as stopping pay and benefit cuts, and above all advancing the demand for freedom of association and other labor rights that have been denied to Iraqi workers both under the dictatorship and by the U.S./British occupation.  The government agreed to retroactive payment of the wage cuts put into effect and to  meet with worker representatives over other issues, such as workplace hazards.  The Parliament must now consider a labor rights law that recognizes, respects and protects labor rights in conformity with International Labor Organization standards.

More than 275 people responded within 48 hours to the urgent appeal USLAW sent to its supporters asking them to sign electronic letters to the Iraqi Ambassador in Washington DC and the Iraq representative to the UN in New York.  Similar efforts were mounted in other countries around the world.  The combination of determined courageous worker protests in the face of threats and violence and international solidarity turned an attack on the living standards of workers into a victory.  However, promises are not the same as performance.  We must be ready to act again if the Iraqi government and parliament fail to follow through.

Thanks to all those who responded by sending protest messages to the Iraqi government.