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Wednesday, 07 January, 2009, 17:30 GMT | more >>

Iraq 'muzzles union with Saddam-era law'



By Upstream staff 

Iraq's Oil Ministry is using a Saddam-era decree to crack down on trades union and stifle dissent against foreign giants moving into the Iraqi oil play, the country's oil union has claimed.

Oil union boss Hassan Juma'a, has been at the forefront of a public campaign against the signing of a controversial new oil law that would lead to long-term profit-sharing contracts being signed with multinational oil giants, a repoprt published in today's edition of the London-based Sunday newspaper the Observer said.

But Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani has issued a directive banning unions from taking part in any official talks about the new law, claiming "these unions have no legal status to work within the state sector".

Juma'a told the Observer that Shahristani's approach echoed an infamous law passed by Saddam Hussein in 1987 - Article 150 - suppressing trades union. He insisted this weekend that his members would not follow the directive, saying "we are working for Iraq".

Iraq's new constitution, passed in 2005, enshrines "the right of forming and joining professional associations and unions", adding "this will be organised by law", but since no such legislation has yet been enacted, campaigners claim the oil ministry is simply reverting to Saddam-era laws that banned unions.

"This means the union has lost any negotiating rights as regards their terms and conditions, as well as in regard to discussions of the oil law," Sami Ramadani of Naftana, the UK-based support committee for the union, told the Observer.

Ramadani, an exile from Saddam's regime, added: "The union is definitely defying this, and it has the support of the workers: that's its strength."

The Iraqi parliament recently went into summer recess without passing the oil law, despite pressure from the UK and the US. The coalition powers claim that Iraq needs the help of multinationals to bring fresh investment and modern expertise to the oil sector, which was starved of cash during the years it was subject to a United Nations-imposed sanctions regime.

The oil law is also meant to settle the issue of how future oil revenues will be divided between Iraq's regions, but details have not been hammered out.

Shahristani's ban is only the latest move against the union. Earlier this year, arrest warrants were issued for its leaders after they threatened to strike.

Sunday, 05 August, 2007, 17:53 GMT  | last updated: Sunday, 05 August, 2007, 18:16 GMT

Decree: Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani has issued a directive forbidding the oil union from taking part in official talks over Iraq's proposed oil law
 

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