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3 April, 2007
The ICEM has condemned the killing of General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) Union Leader Najim Abd-Jasem in a communiqué to Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
The 20-million-member Global Union Federation (GUF) called this “appalling murder another sign of a clearly systematic campaign underway in Iraq to eliminate the leadership of the newly formed independent and democratic unions that strongly oppose sectarianism.”
Abd-Jasem, a husband and father of four children, was abducted in Baghdad on 27 March, and his body was found three days later, 30 March, with clear signs that he was tortured before his death. A staunch trade unionist, even as a member of the underground workers’ democratic movement during Saddam Hussein’s ban on independent trade unions, Abd-Jasem was the elected General Secretary of the Mechanic Workers’ Union of the GFIW.
In the message to Nouri al-Maliki, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda cited recent attacks on the head office of the GFIW, as well as previous murders and abduction of trade union leaders. “Workers and trade unionists must be able to carry out their normal activities in your country without fearing for their lives,” said Warda. “We call on you to ensure full respect for the fundamental human and trade union rights of workers.”
Abd-Jasem was leader of the Mechanics Workers’ Union since 2003. He was also a founder of the Iraq Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) and a trade union leader as the IFTU and two other labour federations merged to create the GFIW. During the Saddam regime, he worked as a mechanic in the Health Ministry, but was dismissed from that job for opposing Saddam’s official union.
The ICEM, a GUF representing 389 trade unions in 124 countries, expresses deep sorrow to the family of Najim Abd Jasem, as well as to the leadership of GFIW, which has lost a true martyr in the struggle for free and democratic trade unions in Iraq.