March 2009
Update on Iraqi teachers' struggle - by Abdullah Muhsin
March 30, 2009 by Eric Lee
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The Iraqi teachers Union (ITU) held its second national protest on 28 March 2009 with over 500 protesters. The ITU protest attracted Iraqi media, and support from Iraqi trade unions and civil society organisations such as the Association of Political Prisoners (victims of former regime).
The ITU protest carried the following slogans:
*Respect the Iraqi constitution.
*The ITU reject the Iraqi government interference in the internal affairs of the union and call on it to cease its undemocratic attempts to take control of the ITU.
*The union shall hold elections only under its internal rules and in the presence of judge
*Support civil society organisations. Allow them to do their job to strength democracy.
The ITU (please see statement below) is struggling along side the people of Iraq and other Iraqi sister unions to consolidate the principles foundation of democratic culture and thus is working to galvanizing and shape Iraqi public opinion against any breach or deviation from the Iraqi constitution and the rule of law. The union will stand firm against all attempts to turn the unions into tools in the hands of the executive and the ruling political power which are inspired from the culture of authoritarian regime that is still rooted in the heart and mind of the ‘champions’ of the current crisis facing the ITU.
The protest generated Iraqi media interests and thus leaders of the ITU inside and outside Iraq conducted several interviews about the current ITU issues with the Iraqi government.
Al Hura satellite station held a round table news discussion over this. Al Uhra is a major satellite station. Labourstart led a global campaign in support of the ITU. At the TUC march on 28 March 2009 Power to the People, the ITU representative in the UK was interviewed by Education International.
Dave Prentis, the General Secretary of Unison, the British largest Public service union sent a letter of support to the ITU protest and read to colleagues in Baghdad (see letter below). The Trade Union Congress (TUC) General Secretary has written to the Deputy Prime Minister Dr Al Issawi calling on this government to drop the threats against the ITU and asked to push for the enactment of a national labour law that allows unions in Iraq to operate independently and democratically ( please see statement at http:/
The ITU will meet the Minister for Civil Society Organisations Dr Thamer Jaffer to discuss the current issue. The ITU is waiting for a formal invitation from him. It is worth to note here that Minister Dr Jaffer, the Minister for Civil society Organizations is the person who manufactured this problem in the first place.
Abdullah Muhsin
GFIW
ITU Representative in the UK.
Statement by the ITU
Our great people ...
Colleagues, teachers..
Federations and trade unions in our beloved Iraq..
At this stage, the ITU struggle along side the people of Iraq to consolidate the principles foundation of the democratic culture and practice in our beloved country. But the Iraqi political arena is experiencing a sense of confusion and deviation from the Iraqi constitution. The ITU is determined to continue with the task in galvanizing teachers, other trade unions federations and our society to shape public opinion that will stand as a wall against any breach or deviation from the Constitution and rule of the law, by the government of Iraq. The concept of the principle of separation of powers is facing blatant violations by the Iraqi executive as it is trying to swallow the legislative power. The current executive authority is moving to swallow up all civil society organizations and thus turning them into fronts for the executive and the ruling political power.
And today the Iraqi government and through its Ministerial Committee responsible for Governing Council decision No. (3), trying to swallow the unions in Iraq thereby flouting the constitutional principles and norms of democracy, and even violating the Governing Council decision No 3 despite the controversy and debate about its legitimacy.
The ITU view is that we must use this opportunity to galvanize our society against all these anti democratic cultural which is derived from a culture of authoritarian dictatorship that is unfortunately still rooted in the hearts of the champions the current crisis.
Most of the current Iraqi political parties are the product of the new Iraq but unfortunately their internal structure and their literature still fixed in the culture of different types of dictatorship (some still believe in the politics of the sole leader). The plunder of Iraqi wealth and the waste of public funds and the imposition of sectarian and ethnic polity are one aspect and product of a culture of dictatorship that still has root in thinking of the new Iraq.
Therefore the ITU appeal to the Iraqi people, Iraqi writers, and intellectuals and fraternal teachers trade unions around the world to unite in supporting the Iraqi trade unions movement. The ITU will use all available peaceful and democratic rights enshrined in the constitution to correct the current political stand with Iraqi authority and thus minimize the deviation from our constitution leading to a democratic culture in order to establish culture of accountability and control and the right to peaceful opposition, under the rule of law and justice.
The Iraqi Teachers Union
Baghdad
28 March 2008
Iraqi teachers union under attack - by Abdullah Muhsin
March 26, 2009 by Eric Lee
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The Iraqi Teachers’ Union is facing extreme attack from the Iraqi Government. The Iraqi government has appointed an official body and granted it the authority to take over the union. This government body demanded that the leadership of the union must hand over the keys to its headquarters along with membership and other records.
The government claims it wants the union to hold national election and that the current leadership are not allowed to stand for re-election again.
It is worth to note that the ITU has already held two national conferences since 2003 with a third emergency conference in late 2007 to elect a new president, brother Jasim Al lami.
This is clear violation and interference in the internal democratic affairs of the union by the current Iraqi government. The ITU leadership has refused to hand over the union and is ready to struggle to preserve the independence of the ITU. The leadership of the union said they will hand over the union only to a newly elected leadership at in open national conference organized by the ITU. The ITU leadership, because of its firm but principled position, is under the threat of prison sentence.
The Iraqi government has continued to be hostile to free trade unionism, despite the huge support it received from the unions in Iraq ever since 2003. The Iraqi government not only refused to abolish Saddam’s Hussein restrictive anti union law but in fact it has used against the Iraqi nascent democratic unions, reluctant to enact an internationally recognised labour code but further it issued in 2005 another restrictive Order that took over the assets and monies of the unions.
The Iraqi trade union movement (the General Federation of Iraqi Workers GFIW) has submitted complaint against the Iraqi Government to the International Labour Organization (ILO) and I believe the ILO has censured the Iraqi government over its violation of trade unions rights in Iraq and called on the government to back off and hence allow the unions in Iraq to organize openly and freely.
The current attempts by the Iraqi government to take over the union are not just illegitimate and unacceptable but blatant interference and are a clear violation of the Iraqi constitution that guarantees workers the right to organize.
The ITU will resort to all means and activities guaranteed by the Iraqi Constitution to defend its right to organize teachers openly and freely.
The ITU will organize protests, strikes and file law suits against all these undemocratic procedures that are dictatorial inspired culture.
The ITU held a national protest in central Baghdad on 21 March 2009 to highly the issues is facing but has unfortunately been subjugated to abuses by the Iraqi security forces. The ITU while deplores and condemns the practice of the security forces is adamant to carry on with struggle and hence is organizing another national protest with major demonstration in central Baghdad on 28 March 2009. The ITU is calling on trade unions supporters across the glob to raise their voices against these undemocratic practices by the elected government of Iraq.
Abdullah Muhsin
General Federation of Iraqi Workers
The British Representative of the Iraqi teachers Union.
Your two email addresses on UnionBook
March 12, 2009 by Eric Lee
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Attentive readers have noticed that you can actually have two different email addresses on UnionBook. And looking this over, I'm not convinced that this is a problem.
There's your public email address, the one you may want other people to see, and you set this by clicking on the Profile icon, which is in the upper left corner of the page (just next to the 'e' for Elgg). This address is optional and is what you want the public to see.
There's also the email address you create when you click on Settings (on top of the page). This is the address UnionBook would use to send you email messages, or any automatically generated mail (e.g., invitations to groups).
I think you can understand might it might be useful to have two different addresses, which is why - for the moment - we won't change this and aren't considering it to be a bug.
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