---------- Forwarded Message ---------- From: US Labor Against War <uslaw at igc.org> Subject: [ilrtf] Encourage Members of Congress to Sign On! Date: Feb 9, 2004 3:03 PM
Dear Labor Antiwar Activist:
U.S. Labor Against the War has been working with Representatives Barbara Lee (Dem., CA), Sam Farr (Dem., CA) and Dennis Kucinich (Dem., OH) to increase pressure on the Bush administration to fully respect and enforce the rights of Iraqi workers to organize and bargain -- rights enshrined in the Conventions of the International Labor Organization.
Representatives Lee, Farr and Kucinich have cosigned a "Dear Colleague" letter to solicit signatories on a letter to the administration condemning its enforcement of a 1987 Saddam Hussein ban on unions and bargaining for Iraqi workers employed by public enterprises (a majority of all workers), and its failure to honor their rights to join unions of their choice and to bargain under these international conventions.
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Please contact your own member of Congress to ask that they cosign this letter and encourage other members to do likewise. A copy of the "Dear Colleague" letter and the letter to the administration are reproduced below and can be downloaded in PDF format on Congressional stationery from the USLAW website at --
http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/resources/resource.php?id=391
Ask your union and labor council to formally endorse this effort and to join in the request. Ask your local union/CLC president or legislative director to call your representative or their key staff to ask the member of Congress to sign on. For those who need more convincing, organize a delegation to visit their local office and/or a letter writing campaign.
After you have contacted your representative, please let USLAW know the outcome of your effort. Even the act of making this request will help raise their awareness of the problem and put the issue of labor rights in Iraq on their radar screen.
----------------------------------------------------------------- ["Dear Colleague Letter" - Original on Congressional stationery]
HELP IRAQI WORKERS GET THEIR JOBS BACK!
The best means to a stable Iraq is to get the Iraqi workforce back to work! A strong workplace environment means a strong, democratic economy.
Dear Colleague:
Please join us in signing the attached letter to Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, and Paul Bremer, U.S. Administrator of Occupied Iraq, to demand jobs, a living wage and labor rights for the working people of Iraq. If we are serious about post-conflict reconstruction and rebuilding Iraq to be a democratic member of the international community, we must give it the tools to do so. A healthy workforce is integral to that effort.
The current situation for workers in Iraq is intolerable. There is massive unemployment ranging from 60% to 70% of the working age population, with no system whatsoever of unemployment compensation benefits or any type of subsistence income for people to survive on until jobs become available. The announced plan of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to privatize hundreds of state-owned enterprises will cause thousands more to lose their jobs and add to the misery of Iraqi families. Wages for the majority of those who are employed are $60 a month, the same as under the Saddam Hussein government, but absent the bonuses, profit sharing and subsidies for food and housing that formerly supplemented low wages and made it possible for Iraqi workers to maintain a nominal standard of living. Of the $87 billion that Congress recently approved for the occupation and reconstruction of Iraq, nothing was allocated either to restore the wages and benefits of Iraqi workers or to provide a stipend for those who are unemployed.
In addition, efforts by Iraqis to organize to improve their conditions have been met with repression by the CPA. Leaders of the Union of the Unemployed of Iraq have several times been arrested and then released without charge. On Dec. 6, 2003, the headquarters of one of the main labor federations was ransacked, files were confiscated and eight leaders were held overnight and then released, with no explanation given and no charges having been brought against them. Incomprehensibly, the CPA is enforcing a law from the Saddam Hussein era that forbids unionization by workers in the public sector and state-owned enterprises which employ 70% of the Iraqi workforce.
One of the widely recognized cornerstones of a democratic society is a free and independent labor movement. The attached letter to Sec. Rumsfeld and Mr. Bremer calls on the CPA to provide jobs or income to Iraqi workers, to pay a living wage, and to allow Iraqi workers to exercise internationally-recognized labor rights -- the right to organize independent unions of their own choosing and to bargain collectively, free from interference and repression. The letter asks Rumsfeld and Bremer to provide a detailed plan and timeline for meeting these goals.
Please join us in signing this letter. No democratic society can take root -- in Iraq or elsewhere -- unless working people enjoy basic freedoms and a decent standard of living.
To sign on or for more information, please contact Rochelle Dornatt (w/Farr) at 5-2861 or Rochelle.Dornatt at mail.house.gov.
Sincerely,
Sam Farr -- Member of Congress Barbara Lee -- Member of Congress Dennis Kucinich -- Member of Congress
------------------------------------------------------
January XX, 2004
The Honorable Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, United States of America
Mr. Paul Bremer, U.S. Administrator, Occupied Iraq
Dear Messrs. Rumsfeld and Bremer:
Reports from many sources - the International Labor Organization, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, numerous published reports, and an eye-witness account recently issued by U.S. Labor Against the War (copy enclosed) -- indicate that a deplorable situation currently exists for the working men and women of Iraq:
* Massive unemployment, with estimates ranging from 60% to 70% - leaving most employable persons unable to provide for their families.
* No system of unemployment compensation benefits or any type of subsistence income -- leaving no safety net for persons previously employed but displaced because of the war.
* Wages of $60 per month for the vast majority of those who are employed -- a figure clearly inadequate to sustain life, let alone support a family.
* Elimination of the bonuses and subsidies for food and housing that formerly supplemented cash wages in Iraq -- causing a sharp decline in real income.
* No system governing hours of work, health and safety conditions, overtime pay provisions, child labor, and other labor standards for Iraqi workers -- thus encouraging exploitation of workers.
The stated intention of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to privatize hundreds of state-owned enterprises which provide the bulk of jobs in Iraq will exacerbate all of these problems, causing additional massive job loss and further deprivation and hardship for Iraqi workers and their families.
Efforts by Iraqi workers to organize to remedy these problems have been discouraged by the CPA, if not met with out-and-out resistance and repression. Leaders of the Unemployed Union of Iraq have several times been arrested and then released without charge. On Dec. 6, 2003, U.S. soldiers raided the headquarters of the Iraq Federation of Trade Unions, ransacked the office, confiscated the files, arrested eight of the leaders, and then released them the next day without charge. Most alarmingly, the Coalition Provisional Authority is enforcing a 1987 Saddam Hussein law prohibiting unionization and collective bargaining in the public sector and state-owned enterprises which employ 70% of the Iraqi workforce.
We believe that nothing resembling a democratic society can take root unless working people enjoy basic, internationally-recognized labor rights -- the right to organize independent unions of their own choosing and to bargain collectively to improve their standard of living, free of interference and repression. This is no less true in Iraq than in the U.S. Previous Iraqi governments have ratified ILO conventions 87 and 98, codifying these basic labor rights, and they should be given the force of law by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.
Further, with U.S. government officials projecting that hundreds of thousands of Iraqi workers are expected to be employed, principally by U.S.-based corporations, on 2,311 planned reconstruction projects over the next two years, the CPA needs to establish a system of labor standards: a livable minimum wage, overtime pay provisions, health and safety protections, prohibitions on child labor, statutory paid time off, essential health care and other social benefits, and so forth. Perhaps most urgently, the CPA must establish a system of unemployment benefits to provide sustenance to the millions of unemployed until jobs become available. Plans to privatize state-owned enterprises should be halted until the Iraqi people themselves have the opportunity to decide the future of their economy and their country.
Please provide us with answers to the following questions:
1. What law or decree currently governs the right of Iraqi workers to organize unions and bargain collectively? Is the CPA enforcing this law/decree? If not, why not?
2. What are the plans of the CPA to implement ILO conventions 87 and 98, previously ratified by the government of Iraq, guaranteeing the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively?
3. For what reason was the office of the Iraq Federation of Trade Unions raided by U.S. soldiers on Dec. 6, 2003? Why were eight IFTU leaders arrested, held overnight, and then released without charges being brought against them? What guarantees can you provide that repression of trade unions and their leaders will not become a continuing feature of occupied Iraq?
4. What law or decree currently sets minimum labor standards for Iraqi workers? What plan does the CPA have to establish a minimum wage that can sustain a family, a standard workweek with requirements for overtime pay, a mechanism for assuring healthy and safe workplaces, provision of essential health care, prohibitions on the exploitation of child labor, requirements for paid time off, etc.?
5. What plans are there to establish a system of unemployment compensation benefits for the unemployed workers of Iraq?
Thank you for your attention to this matter. We await your reply. Sincerely,
-------------------------------------------------- U.S. Labor Against War (USLAW) USLAW is a network of unions and other labor organizations opposed to U.S. foreign policy of unilateralism and preemptive military aggression, and the consequent erosion of economic and job security, essential social services and government programs, and increased militarism, xenophobia, discrimination and threat to Constitutional rights, liberty and democracy they generate.
www.uslaboragainstwar.org info at uslaboragainstwar.org
P.O. Box 153 1718 "M" Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20036
Bob Muehlenkamp and Gene Bruskin, Co-convenors Amy Newell, National Organizer Michael Eisenscher, Organizer & Web Coordinator Erin McGrath, Administrative Staff
- - - - - John Lacny
People of the US, unite and defeat the Bush regime and all its running dogs!