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International pressure and attention has been building around the 19-year strike of 340 Fiji Mineworkers Union (FMU) members at the Emperor Gold Mine in Vatukoula, Fiji, as a resolution becomes possible following Government intervention. 
 
Executive member of ICEM’s Asia-Pacific Regional Committee, Robert Reid, also the General Secretary of the National Distribution Union of neighbouring New Zealand, has been particularly vocal, “This is perhaps the longest running strike in the world and it is time it was resolved,” Reid stated. 
 
The Executive of the FMU met with Permanent Secretaries of the Fiji Government Wednesday, 16 June, the miners presented a compensation claim of US$8,000 per miner for every year of striking. The Government delegation consisted of Permanent Secretaries for Lands and Mineral Resources, Labour, Defence, and the Attorney General's office, as well as for Prime Minister Bainimarama. 

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Permanent secretary to the Prime Minister's Office, Pio Tikoduadua, said a response on the government's position would be made within the next 10 days. 
 
The strike stems from the Emperor Gold Mine Company choosing to close down the mine, instead of negotiating a settlement over worker grievances of poor labour conditions, substandard housing and environmental damage at the mine. 
 
The FMU moved the ILO’s Committee of Experts to analyse and resolve the dispute, this process was begun in December 2009. However, with those deliberations on-going, the miners’ picket has been removed and workers are now being threatened with eviction from their homes for arrears in rent. 
 
In a letter to Fijian Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda urged Bainimarama “on humanitarian grounds and in accordance with provisions of the International Labour Organization to reach a fair and equitable resolution of this dispute.”

International Support for Fiji Miners’ 19-Year Strike

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ICEM affiliated trade unions in Central and Eastern Europe discussed challenges in the chemicals and pharmaceutical industries with a view to reinforcing representation, industrial relations, and social dialogue in an 8-9 June seminar in Bratislava, Slovak Republic. The meetings, hosted by ICEM’s Slovakian affiliate, the Chemical and Energy Workers Union (ECHOZ), were supported by the German Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), one of the principal project partners in the world. 
 
The meeting was chaired by Juraj Blahak, ICEM’s Vice President for Central Europe, who underlined the importance of the meeting for unions in chemicals who face restructurings, including privatisation that has had severe impacts on employment and trade unions. 
 
Clemens Rode, representing FES in the region, stressed the role of trade unions in shaping economic and social life in Central Europe. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda gave specific attention to the togetherness of Central and Eastern European trade unions, calling exchanges of information and experience in restructurings as vitally important. Warda also made a specific presentation on precarious employment and ICEM’s global Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) campaign. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1006.bratislava.JPG" width="256" height="192" alt=""/>
 
Attended by around 30 trade union leaders from Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belorussia, and Tadjikistan, the meeting received an extensive report from the ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industries’ Officer, Kemal Özkan, on global chemical and pharmaceutical trends, with specifics on the Central and Eastern Regions and individual countries. 
 
The meeting also got a presentation from Mr. Roman Karlubik, President of the Association of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry of the Slovak Republic, who drew the overall picture of the Slovak chemical industry and social dialogue with ECHOZ. 
 
The industry in Central and Eastern Europe suffered through the economic crisis in parallel to many economies in the region posting negative GDP growth, with some countries suffering near financial meltdown. Prior to the crisis, the region was seen as a good place to invest. For the pharmaceutical industry, generic medicines represent around half the industry in the region, with a number of number of companies including KRKA, Gedeon Richter, Polpharma, and Zentiva specifically focusing on generics. 
 
Central and Eastern European countries are projected to spend an estimated US$157.1 billion on healthcare in 2015, equal to 6.9% of total GDP. At present, only 30% of spending in the region is private, but over 85% of this is composed of out-of-pocket payments by people. 

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The Bratislava meeting agreed that in Central and Eastern Europe, chemical and pharmaceutical industries are still in the restructuring process, although levels differ from country to country. Restructuring occurs in ownership, particularly with privatisation, production, technology, and labour relations, which brings fear and challenges trade union recognition and survival. The participants agreed that there could an important exchange of experience on privatisation between Central and Eastern Europe, particularly for countries now undergoing privatisation, namely Belorussia. 
 
Another important point stressed was that the region’s chemical industry is still under the dominance of basic chemicals, like fertilizers in Central Asia for example, which brings sustainability problems regarding jobs to workplaces. 
 
Occupational Health and Safety was specifically mentioned since current production systems create serious problems on this issue. A need for capacity building for unions in the region was underlined by the participants. 

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Participants also drew attention to the effects of the standards such as REACH and ETS, which regulates the environment where the chemical industry operates over employment. Outside of the European Union, there are also initiatives in the individual efforts of countries, such as Russia, to be able to harmonise their chemical legislations for survival of the industries. A need for a specific work about this particular area was mentioned by the participants. 
 
At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that networking, regular exchange of information and experience, capacity building on industry matters, collective bargaining, and trade union issues should be continued. 
 
“The Bratislava meeting has clearly shown to us that Central and Eastern Europe is still the area where the ICEM needs to focus its activities in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry,” said Kemal Özkan. “Coming just months before ICEM’s World Chemical Conference in October 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey, the meeting has given us a great overview on what to do for having genuine global union activities in this industry.” 
 
On 7 June 2010 a regional ICEM Central Europe Council meeting took place in Bratislava, Slovakia. Trade Union representatives from Hungary, Macedonia, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia took part in the meeting. The meeting was headed by Juraj Blahak, ICEM Vice-President and President of the Central European regional Council.

Challenges to Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals Focus in Central, East Europe Forum

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The second world congress of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), meeting in Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada, 21-25 June, elected Sharon Burrow to become the first woman to head the global trade union body. Burrow succeeds Guy Ryder as the second General Secretary of the ITUC, which was created in Vienna in 2006, and leaves her position as president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), a post that she has held since 2000. She has been President of the ITUC and its predecessor the ICFTU, since 2004. 
 
In her acceptance speech, Burrow described herself as a "warrior" for women and committed the ITUC to continuing to champion women's rights. 
 
Hosted by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), over 1,400 delegates assembled in Vancouver under the theme, ‘Now the People, from the crisis to global justice’, as the main focus was around issues related to labour’s demands for restructuring and reform of the global economy. Delegates criticised the recent trend of governments, especially in Europe, introducing deficit control and austerity measures, under pressure the same banks that caused the economic crisis to begin, instead of keeping jobs at the centre of the recovery. This, according to Burrow, is turning the possibility of a double-dip recession into a probability. 

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ITUC General Secretary, Sharon Burrow
Among the 13 resolutions passed by the congress, were strong declarations on democracy, peace, gender equality, fighting HIV/AIDS, and on sustainable development and a just transition. See those resolutions in full at the link below. 
 
The congress called on G20 governments to increase economic stimulus to create more jobs. On Thursday, 24 June, over 1,000 Congress delegates conducted a rally outside the Vancouver Convention Centre, calling on world leaders to move towards global justice. 
 
Michael Sommer, DGB (Confederation of German Trade Unions), Germany, was elected ITUC President. Jaap Wienen was elected Deputy General Secretary. Luc Cortebeeck, CSC (Confederation of Christian Trade Unions) Belgium, was elected ITUC Deputy President. Nair Goulart, Força Sindical (Brazil), was elected ITUC Deputy President. 
 
View the ITUC second world congress web page <a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/+-congress-+.html">here</a>.

ITUC Congress Elects Sharon Burrow General Secretary

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Canada-based mining house Gammon Gold ‘suspended indefinitely’ operations at the El Cubo mine, in Guanajuato State in southern central Mexico, in a bid to end union demands on profit sharing and shift length. It is predicted that management aim to re-open the mine via a contractor, and therefore block union organising and collective bargaining. 
 
The mine closure sees 397 workers sacked, while the company has filed criminal charges against 7 union leaders. Workers are represented by Section 142 of the Mining Union of the Mexican Republic (El Sindicato Minero de la Republica Mexicana). The dispute was addressed by Napoleón Gomez, General Secretary of Los Mineros, at the recent ICEM / IMF “Triple Crisis of Sustainability Conference” in Toronto. 
 
The miners’ only demand is that they receive their legally entitled share of the company’s profits, a condition agreed to by Nova Scotia-based Gammon when management lengthened miners’ working day from 8 to 10 hour shifts. In the absence of a profit-sharing arrangement, union leaders are demanding a bonus of 50,000 pesos (US$3,968) per worker. 

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As is often the case in Mexico, the government has been criticised for siding with the company, against workers. Another familiar problem was seen earlier in the dispute, as workers were physically attacked by the company’s private security firm on 18 June. 
 
Gammon Gold recorded US$207 million in revenue from gold and silver mining operations in 2009. The company operates exclusively in Mexico, with a large gold-silver complex in the northern state of Chihuahua, known as Ocampo, exploration work is on-going at the neighbouring Guadalupe y Calvo gold-silver mine, and Gammon recently acquired the El Mezquite and Venus projects in the states of Zacatecas and Chihuahua, respectively. 
 
The union is studying the legal options for keeping El Cubo open, and have strongly stated that they will block operations re-starting with contracted scabs. The potential at the mine corresponds to 14% of the overall company net assets as well as 24% of overall gold production for 2010, and is therefore too valuable for the company to close completely.

El Cubo Mexican Mine Shut in Attempt to Crush Union

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Labour, management, and the Liberian government celebrated the signing on 28 June of the second collective agreement between ICEM-affiliated Firestone Agricultural Workers’ Union (FAWUL) and Firestone Rubber Plantation. Some 4,500 workers and their families will again benefit when the two-year contract takes effect in December 2010. 
 
The ever-evolving labour-management relationship between FAWUL and Firestone is fast becoming a showcase in modern industrial relations for the administration of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. 
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Labour Minister Taiworn Gongloe stated at the celebration that the social relationship “has broken from the past,” and thanks to enlightened leadership coming from the President, the rights of workers and the interests of the company both are now guaranteed. Added Firestone Managing Director Charles Stuart, “What we're celebrating here is the result of management and employees working in a peaceful and respectful manner. Without you we are nothing and together, anything can happen.” 
 
It was only a short three years ago that FAWUL was fighting the last vestiges of an illegitimate yellow union that had been propped up by Firestone management for decades. Following free and open elections, and an ambitious years-long union-building project by the US-based United Steelworkers (USW), FAWUL won union certification in 2007. (See ICEM reports <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/2511-ICEM-Calls-on-Liberia-to-Recognise-Correct-Trade-Union-at-Firestone-Rubber-Plantation " type="internal">here</a> and <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/2526-ICEM-Welcomes-Liberia's-Certification-of-Legitimate-Firestone-Union " type="internal">here</a>.) 
 
A year later, on 27 July, FAWUL won its first collective agreement, giving workers a 24% pay increase backdated 19 months, reducing a quota system on tapping natural rubber from trees, and granting new schools and free tuition for the sons and daughters of workers. 
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This second contract goes further: a 3.5% wage increase, the construction of more schools and school transportation, and perhaps the most important gain, a mechanized transport system to haul the rubber latex to weigh stations. For decades, workers had to haul 150-pound buckets of rubber sometimes miles on their shoulders to the stations. 
 
FAWUL Secretary-General Edwin Cisco said the months long bargaining was hard and arduous, but that a “new day of social dialogue between management and workers has begun and the days of confrontation and agitation are over.” 
 
“This is a major success story in so many ways,” stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, “and we should never lose sight of the fact that the Steelworkers Union of America did the hard and difficult work up front to make it happen. We commend the workers, FAWUL leadership, and Firestone Rubber management, and see a long, productive, and precedent-setting relationship unfolding inside Liberia.”

FAWUL, Firestone Rubber Plantation in Liberia Sign Second Two-Year Pact

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The ICEM Colombian affiliate, USO (Unión Sindical Obrera) has again been targeted with an assassination of one of their activists. Nelson Camacho González was shot repeatedly by hired killers on motorbikes, 16 June, as he waited at a bus stop for his bus to work. 
 
This murder is the latest in the ongoing violent persecution of the oil workers union, as USO activists are involved in collective struggles with the multinational British Petroleum in Casanare, with Ecopetrol and with TGI (Transportadora de Gas del Interior). 
 
The murder occurred three days after another trade union activist was assassinated, Ibio Efrén Caicedo, on 19 June. The trade unionist from the Antioquia Teachers’ Association (ADIDA) was the seventh unionised teacher to be murdered in 2010 in the Antioquia region, northern Colombia. He was killed the day before the presidential elections in the country. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Colombia.png" width="250" height="115"/>
The total number of trade unionists assassinated in Colombia in 2010 is 32. As was recently reported by ICEM, in 2009 there were 101 trade unionists murdered around the world, 48 of them in Colombia. Nearly 3,000 trade unionists have been murdered in Colombia in the last 24 years. When Uribe hands power to President-elect Juan Maunel Santos, his legacy will be 529 union leaders killed while conducting collective bargaining, with the hired killers from paramilitary groups acting with impunity. 
 
The ICEM joins USO in calling for a full investigation into this latest crime, to be lead by Colombia’s Attorney General. 
 
These killings occurred four weeks after the ILO’s Committee on the Application of Standards removed Colombia from the list of 25 countries sanctioned for trade union rights abuses. The surprising decision to remove the most dangerous country for trade unionists from the list was passed on the condition that a high level tripartite ILO delegation to Colombia would take place. The mission was in Bogotá 6-9 July, conducting a series of meetings with government, employers, and workers. 
 
The delegation took part in numerous meetings with workers rallying outside. Last Wednesday, 7 July, as the delegation met with the Colombian Ministry of Social Protection, hundreds of workers outside chanted slogans such as “down with the repressive policies of the Uribe government and the Ministry of Social Protection!”. The rally was, as is the norm, under constant intimidation by the notorious ESMAD riot police. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda expressed anger and grief, on behalf of all ICEM affiliates, in a letter to USO President Germán Osman this week.

USO Activist Murdered, ILO Delegation Arrives in Colombia

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The negative impacts of the Thai government’s unjust National Verification process continue to hit Burmese migrant workers in the country, as they are deported to Burma and suffer human rights abuses at the hands of Burmese ethnic militia, Thai officials and numerous brokers. 
 
The ICEM supports calls for an independent investigation into the claims, to be headed by the United Nations, especially in light of Thailand holding the Presidency of the UN Human Rights Council currently. The allegations are very grave indeed, with mentions of torture, forced labour and systematic corruption. 
 
Migrant workers from Burma in Thailand make up 5-10% of the Thai labour force. 
 
According to fresh reports, Burmese migrants who are arrested by Thai officials are transported to a checkpoint on the Thai-Burmese border, on the Moei River, known as “Gate Zero”. The checkpoint is controlled by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a proxy militia of the Burmese regime. 
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In the weeks since the National Verification order was issued, thousands of migrant workers have been arrested throughout Thailand and sent by police bus to Mae Sot, where their personal details are recorded and they are deported by boat across the river to Gate Zero. 
 
Upon arrival at Gate Zero the DKBA demands 1,200 baht (US$37) for a deported person's release, and offers a return trip to Bangkok for 10,000 baht. 
 
Local labour activists believe the proceeds from these fines are shared between the DKBA, brokers and Thai officials. 
 
The fine is huge for migrant workers, and many are unable to pay. In these cases, the worker’s family is informed of the need to pay the release money, with the worker detained and in some cases tortured.

Burmese Migrant Workers in Thailand Suffer Gross Human Rights Abuses at Border

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2010 brings hazards activists a special opportunity - the 12th bi-annual European Work Hazards Conference, hosted by the UK Hazards Campaign at Leeds University. The conference will give hazards activists the chance to meet and work with activists from throughout Europe and other parts of the world. 
 
The conference will explore the impact of the global recession on work environments and occupational health and safety. It is organised by the European Work Hazards Network, a forum uniting activists with different experience, skills and backgrounds - workers, trade union health and safety representatives, campaigners, academics, scientists and occupational safety and health professionals. 
 
Delegates from countries outside Europe are also welcome. Full detail of the conference is available <a href="http://www.ewhn.eu/">here</a>.

European Work Hazards Conference, 10-12 September, Leeds University 

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Spain’s ICEM-affiliated Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO) announced the passing of its first General Secretary, Marcelino Camacho, last Friday, 29 October. 
 
Marcelino Camacho, 92, a symbol for trade union rights and democracy in Spain, dedicated his life to the fight for those most in need, for justice and solidarity. 
 
The son of a railwayman, Camacho was a fighter for freedom and workers’ rights since his youth. Fighting Franco’s 1939-1975 fascist dictatorship, and spending a total of 14 years in prison and concentration camps, as well as several years of political asylum in Algeria, Marceline Camacho was a true working-class hero. 
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Marcelino Camacho
In the late 1950s, Camacho and his comrades founded the CC.OO, now Spain’s largest trade union confederation. He was elected General Secretary at its first congress in June 1978, and was re-elected at the second and third congresses. 
 
He was a member of the Spanish Communist Party, and was elected to the Spanish Parliament during the first democratic elections in 1977 following the defeat of the Franco regime. He resigned from the Parliament in1981 to devote himself to trade unionism. 
 
On resigning from the post of General Secretary at the 4th Congress of CCOO, Camacho was elected as President, a post he held until 1996. 
 
His important role was acknowledged with numerous honours and awards, in Spain and abroad.

Labour Movement Mourns Death of Spanish CC.OO’s Marcelino Camacho

The quest to resist austerity measures imposed on public services and public-sector workers in the wake of the financial crash is a noble one and one worth fighting. But global unions need also look within boundaries of certain countries to witness an unparalleled assault on public-sector workers and trade unionists who courageously step up to lead those workers. 
 
I refer specifically to the troubling and untenable trade union situation in Iraq, where reconstruction to essential, publicly-owned industrial sectors has come at a steep price to ordinary Iraqi workers and the brave men and women who lead them toward a true democratic society. 
 
In Iraq, roughly 80% of all industries are in the public sector. Yet even as foreign investment arrives, and privatization of certain manufacturing sectors appears inevitable, trade unionism is prohibited. It is still illegal to be a member of a trade union, just as it was under the dictator Saddam, and two years into the rule of the occupation forces (2005), Decree 8750 was mandated that forbid unions from owning property, holding bank accounts, or collecting fees from workers. 
 
It is unconscionable that seven years after the fall of Saddam, and 23 years after his notorious Public Law 150 banning all trade union activity in the public sector, Iraq is still without a legal framework for industrial relations that meets ILO standards. Sadly, the Saddam-era ban was one of the few laws not overturned by the occupation administration when it took power. 
 
In 2005, the provisional government of Iraq did re-draft the country’s constitution. Section 22 of that constitution calls for a new labour law to defend the rights of workers to unionize and bargain collectively. But due to political stalemate, lack of will by Iraqi politicians across all political parties, and indifference by the United States government, a Labour and Social Security Law that was written by the ILO has not even been considered by Iraq’s Council of Representatives. 
 
Instead, Iraq’s Cabinet members resort to ministerial orders that close union offices, confiscating all materials, equipment, and literature. The most recent such order, in July against all unions attempting to operate in the electric power industry, was carried out in a day, showing the government to be serious in its clamp-down on unions, perhaps as a signal to foreign investment. 
 
With the order shutting electrical union offices, a threat was also issued warning workers and trade union leaders that they would be incarcerated under Iraq’s Anti-Terrorism Act of 2005 if they tried to protest the shutdowns. This came only months after the al-Maliki government laid down an order banning trade unionists from travelling abroad unless they got a hard-to-get “internal visa” from the Supreme Ministerial Committee. 
 
This was the government’s response to trade unionists from a whole range of Iraqi unions who for several years had travelled to Jordan, Lebanon, Europe, or America for union training and development programs. Donors and trade union organizations such as the British Trades Union Congress (TUC), the American AFL-CIO Solidarity Center, and ICEM have supplied that support and training. 
 
In 2007, at the ICEM’s World Congress in Bangkok, Iraqi trade union development and full trade union rights for the country’s unions became a priority in our work plan. That was reiterated at our 2010 Executive Committee where a strongly worded resolution was adopted condemning the government’s most recent repressive tactics. “We demand the immediate repeal of all restrictions on union activity and the immediate enactment of fair labour legislation which fully complies with ILO Conventions and provides fundamental human and trade union rights as provided in the Iraqi constitution,” read the statement. 
 
To be sure, other trade union bodies and Global Union Federations have taken up the cause in order to achieve this. At the 97th International Labour Congress in June 2008, five labour organizations, including ICEM, TUC, AFL-CIO, Public Services International (PSI), and Education International (EI), stood in front of the Committee of Standards and condemned Iraq’s ruthless attack on trade unionism. 
 
The ICEM is proud of the work it has done with Iraq’s unions and with trade union leaders, but we know that far more needs to be done. The ICEM is even prouder of the great trade union leaders who have risen inside Iraq against what would seem insurmountable odds to carry out a most noble struggle with perseverance and self-sacrifice. 
 
One is Hashmeya Muhsin Al-Saadawi, the first woman to head a trade union in the Arab world and one leader who was forcefully removed from her office in Basra this past July when the government closed the union offices in the electrical sector. As president of the General Union of Electricity Workers and Technicians of Iraq (GUEWT), affiliated to both the ICEM and the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), Hashmeya Muhsin in 2009 won the Dutch labour center FNV’s prestigious Febe Elisabeth Velasquez award. 
 
The award, along with a cash prize, is given to a trade union leader who takes risks in defending workers’ rights in countries where they are routinely violated. In poverty-ridden Iraq, however, what she did with the prize money is most exemplary: she produced a training manual for launch of an Iraqi social security campaign to promote social justice and equality as means to achieve job opportunities, decent work, and health, education, and quality living. 
 
The ICEM offers this as the way in which to go about nation-building. 
 
There are many other Iraqi trade union leaders who have stood tall in the face of repression, and we owe it to them to raise full ire outside Iraq to what is happening to them within. Some have been arrested, others forced from their work and transferred away from co-workers and their families to remote job sites because they led protests against salary curtailments, cuts to food rations, or common social entitlements withheld. 
 
I would be remiss to not mention the dozens of Iraqi trade union leaders have paid the ultimate sacrifice for their union activities – their lives. Dedicated unionists such as Hadi Saleh of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), Shukry al-Shukry, a founder of the IFTU, Ali Hassan Abd of the Oil and Gas Workers’ Union, Dr. Adnan Al-Abed, an academic and adviser to the GFIW who reviewed the ILO’s labour law proposal, Moaaid Hamid of the GFIW, Ahmed Adris Abas of the Transport and Communications Workers’ Union, Thabet Hussein of the General Union for Health Sector Workers, General Secretary Najim Abd-Jasem of the Mechanic Workers Union, Hassan Hamza, president of the Hotel and Tourism Workers’ Union, and Majiid Karim, an executive member of the GFIW, to name only a few, all were assassinated in order to stifle union activity. 
 
The assassination of journalists, as well, has regrettably set civil society back in Iraq. In recent weeks, the lives of Ryad al-Saray in Baghdad and Safaa al-Khayat in Mosul ended because cowards could not bear a free and open society, and their deaths serve as reminders that public-sector life in Iraq is dangerous and deadly. 
 
One has to ask, how far has Iraq come since the overthrow of Saddam? Is destroying Iraq’s labour movement the way to ensure a stable, civil society in which democratic institutions can thrive? By neo-liberal norms in an age of greed-filled privatization, free and democratic trade unions do stand in the way to unfettered access of a country’s resources. 
 
But for the vast majority of Iraq’s citizens, after five decades of living under severe repression, they want better. Nationalist sentiment inside Iraqi society considers electricity, the oil sector, pipelines, ports, transportation, and other enterprises as integral public services that stand as guarantees of sovereignty and economic well-being for all citizens. 
 
There can be little debate that war makes privatization easier. First you destroy the infrastructure, and then you re-build with no-bid contracts awarded to favored corporations. Iraqi unions have seen this first-hand over the past seven years, and the fights they wage to defend what is rightfully theirs, against forces of neo-colonialism, are heroic and just. Global Union Federations like the ICEM recognize this, we recognize it as a shining example of what public-sector trade unionism is all about, and we pledge to continue to do what is necessary to assist Iraqi trade unions in winning their fight.

Iraq: Trade Union Repression Must End 

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