Friday, October 31, 2003

Model Resolution on the Occupation and Labor Rights in Iraq (Circulated by U.S. Labor Against the War for adoption by unions, labor councils and other labor organizations.) P.O. Box 153, 1718 M Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20036 http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/ Since George W. Bush declared an end to the war on Iraq in April, 2003, unemployment among Iraqi workers has reached 70%, causing many families to face hunger and dislocation, and Whereas:  Since Bush announced the wars end, the US occupying authority has frozen Iraqi wages for most workers at $60/month, while at the same time eliminating bonuses, profit sharing, and subsidies for food and housing, causing a sharp cut in the income of those Iraqi workers still employed, and Whereas:  $87 billion was appropriated by Congress supposedly for the reconstruction of Iraq, yet not a dime is set to be used for raising Iraqi wages or for unemployment benefits, and these extraordinary expenditures will come at the expense of services and jobs here in the US, and Whereas: Since April, 2003, Iraqi workers have begun to reorganize their trade union movement, seeking a better standard of living, and to preserve their jobs and workplaces, and Whereas:  The US occupation authority has continued to enforce a 1987 law issued by Saddam Hussein prohibiting unions and collective bargaining in the public sector and state enterprises where most Iraqis work, and in June promulgated a new decree which prohibited strikes or other disruptionsand threatened any worker who encourages strike or other disruptiveactivity with being held as a prisoner of war, and Whereas:  The US occupation authority has announced it intends to sell off the factories, refineries, mines and other state enterprises despite the fact that these enterprises belong to the Iraqi people, not to the US, and has issued a new decree, Public Order 39, allowing 100% foreign ownership of Iraqi businesses and the repatriation of profits in effect making resistance to privatization illegal for Iraqi unions and preventing workers from having any voice in the future of their own jobs, and Whereas:  The privatization of Iraqi workplaces would result in massive layoffs to Iraqi workers at a time when unemployment is already at crisis levels, and Whereas:  Iraqi unions are seeking to organize despite having no resources, while the US occupying authority withholds welfare funds, buildings and other assets previously held by unions controlled by Saddam Husseins government, and Whereas:  Workers in the United States have experienced an erosion of our own labor rights to organize and collectively bargain in defense of our jobs, rights and working conditions and thus understand what the restriction or loss of these rights means to working people, Therefore be it resolved:  This local union (or other labor body) calls for full trade union rights in Iraq for immediate nullification of the 1987 Hussein law banning unions in public enterprises, the new decree threatening to hold strikers as prisoners of war, and any other restriction on the free exercise of labor rights, and Be it further resolved:  We call on the US occupation authority to immediately implement Conventions 87, 98 and 138 of the International Labor Organization guaranteeing the right to organize and bargain collectively, and prohibiting child labor, and to immediately halt the process of privatizing Iraqi workplaces and selling off the property of the Iraqi people, and Be it further resolved: We call for an end to the US occupation of Iraq and return of U.S. troops to their homes and families so that Iraq can be governed by its own people, Be it further resolved:  We call for a Congressional investigation of the suppression of trade union rights in Iraq and the privatization of Iraqi workplaces and selling off of the property of the Iraqi people, and Be it finally resolved:  We will encourage donations of material resources such as computers, telephones, fax machines and office furniture, as well as money to the Fund to Support Iraqi Labor Rights established by US Labor Against the War. 3:30:38 PM    comment []

Privatization of Federal Tasks   The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) reports that "the Senate Finance Committee recently approved legislation that includes a provision to allow the Internal Revenue Service to use debt collection companies to go after taxpayers and keep a bounty of up to 25% of what they collect."  Under this provision, tacked onto Senate Bill 1637 by Republican Senator Charles Grassley, debt collectors would only be paid upon collection; this would likely encourage them to use aggressive tactics. From Labor Notes, Nov. 2003 11:14:03 AM    comment []

Summary for week of October 27, 2003  In Events read about how San Francisco Bay Area theater group Word For Word brings back its hit show, OIL!, (Chapter One: "The Ride"), the first chapter of Upton Sinclair's sweeping California epic chronicling the tumultuous oil boom and how it altered the course of California history. News items include analysis of the impact of the food clerks' strike in southern California, several articles on offshoring of U.S. jobs, and news of a software developer's union in Portland. There are also artilces on Sony's plans for massive layoffs, a wildcat postal worker's strike in England, and a metalworkers strike in Brazil. Free speech got a boost when a Federal court upheld the right of a union to hand out leaflets that criticize an owner of a store in a shopping center. 8:34:56 AM    comment []

Free speech upheld in handbills at state shopping malls By Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle Friday, October 31, 2003 Complete story at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/10/31/BAG6J2NG2E1.DTL Shopping center owners in California can't prohibit unions from handing out leaflets that criticize an owner of a store in the center, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. Observing that the California Constitution "does not permit censorship of contrary ideas,'' the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a National Labor Relations Board charge of unfair labor practices against a Los Angeles County shopping mall. 8:38:38 AM    comment []

Copyright 2003 Lincoln Cushing