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15 December, 2008
A critical meeting was held in Basra at the headquarters of the Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) on 29 November. Iraqi union leaders of FWCUI’s branches met in a general session with an emphasis on preparing for elections in the oil sector.
The meeting was attended by 36 trade union leaders of the oil sector, including workers’ representatives from the northern Rumaylah fields, the southern Rumaylah fields, as well as the Birjisiya, Shiayba, and Saltt stations, the pipelines company, the petrochemical company, and the headquarters unit of the Southern Oil Co.
The meeting was chaired by Thair Ismaieel, coordinator of FWCUI’s preparatory committee, and was attended by Raiad Mahmoud and Haydar Abd Alilah, charged with administrative and financial affairs, for the union, and by Kareem Johi, Secretary of FWCUI’s Petro-Chemicals Branch.
The meeting produced a set of recommendations intended to determine responsibilities of the union’s supreme committee regarding elections, and a call to respect the instructions issued by this committee.
The recommendations also include mechanisms to empower union members to shape the federation as an independent organization, to encourage women to join unions of the federation, a call to unionists to be willing and able to support workers’ activities in all sectors, and publishing and distribution of FWCUI’s newspaper in all workplaces.
The meeting took up the challenges to the 1987 Saddam-era Decree 150 – still in force –which prohibits independent trade unions in the public sector, and also explored ways to expand membership. FWCUI is focused on making its unions power tools in the hands of workers.
A week after the meeting, on 5 December, FWCUI issued a strong statement against the so-called “Security Agreement” between the US and the government of Iraq. That statement rejects the agreement and invites other Iraqi parties that reject the agreement “to place their opposition in the political arena (in order) to widen the public discourse and to transform the rejection of this agreement to an empowerment of the people.”
FWCUI members of the supreme committee for elections includes: Thaier Ismaieel, President; Mustapha Ahmed and Mahdi Bishara, Vice Presidents; Raid Abd Alqader, Secretary; Ghazi Abd Alqader, Secretary Assistant; Dhaher Auda, Administrative and Financial Affairs Officer; Nashwan Faisal, Administrative/Financial Assistant; Kareem Johi, Communications Officer; Mukhlis Faisal, Public Relations Officer; and Saffa Talib and Muayad Hamad, respective assistants in those latter areas.