Iraqi workers need good laws now!14 November, 2013For the past 10 years unions in Iraq have mobilized and campaigned for the government to pass a new labour and trade union law. Today, the 1987 Saddam Hussein-era laws remain in effect and are actively enforced. They prevent unions from carrying out normal union activity.
Iraqi judiciary used to persecute trade union21 March, 2013In a clear reprisal attack for trade union activism at the state-owned South Oil Company (SOC), Hassan Juma’a Awad the head of IndustriALL’s affiliate, the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), now faces criminal charges launched by the authorities.
Condemn the ongoing harsh persecution of Hassan Juma’a18 April, 2013Click here to send your message to the Iraqi government and denounce the vindictive criminal charges facing trade union leader Hassan Juma’a Awad.
Support Iraqi oil workers struggling for union rights - sign up to the LabourStart campaign 16 June, 2012IndustriALL Global Union members can show solidarity with oil workers in Iraq who continue to organise for their rights despite the continuing use against them of a vicious anti-trade union law, held over from the Saddam-era.
Iraqi workers protest against the latest government interference29 June, 2012IndustriALL affiliates in Iraq were at the forefront of a major demonstration and picket on the morning of 25 June 2012 in Basra. Fresh from her election as an Executive Committee member of the new IndustriALL Global Union, Hashmeya Muhsin al-Saadawi, leader of the Electricity Utility Workers’ Union, was one of the leaders of the protest which also included the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), Federation of Workers Councils Unions of Iraq and other Basra based organizations. Protesters marched and chanted slogans denouncing the continued blatant government intervention into internal trade union affairs and the ban on trade union organization in the public sector.
Brave struggle of Iraqi energy unions inspires the movement30 October, 2014IndustriALL’s partner organization AFL-CIO Solidarity Center this month released an important report on the status of Freedom of Association in Iraq's electricity sector. The report finds that new trade unions in the electricity industry have been central to building new union structures and achieving significant gains for workers especially in the public sector.
Leather workers stage protests in Iraq4 September, 2013In Iraq the State Company of the Leather Industries dismissed 200 workers. In opposition the Federation of Workers Councils & Unions of Iraq (FWCUI) organized a number of protests across the country.
Iraqi union organizes Shell workers 20 April, 2017IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU) has succeeded in negotiating a union to represent 6,000 workers at a new joint venture with Shell.
Iraqi workers take to streets over unpaid wages9 December, 2014Thousands of Iraqi workers from state-owned companies have been taking to the streets across the country demanding to be paid. Workers want the Ministry of Industry to pay their salaries after going three months without wages.
Iraq: protest at Basra Gas Company/Shell over non-payment of salaries20 May, 2020Workers at Basra Gas Company, a joint venture where Shell holds a major stake, launched a protest on 18 May over the company’s failure to pay salaries. Around 5,000 workers seconded from South Gas Company (SGC) to Basra Gas Company (BGC) have yet to receive their salaries.
