Basra and Nassiriyah Pipeline Workers End Strike

August 29th 2006

Oil workers on strike in Iraq win a pay increase and profit-sharing.

Following a walkout by 700 workers from the General Company for Oil Lines and Pipes in Basra and Nassiriya last Tuesday August 22nd August, the GUOE confirmed that the strikers won their demands.

The demands were:

1. Wages must be paid in due time.
2. Overtime work must be paid
3. Increase workers' allowances
4. Provide ambulances at working places to transfer sick workers to hospital when needed.

The strike cut off all internal imports of oil from the south to central Iraq.

"We received a document from the ministry of oil. It is a document to increase our salaries and to pay us (a) share in seasonal profits," Hassan Jumaa al-Asadi said.

Tuesday's action did not have any impact on oil exports, oil ministry and union officials had said.Asadi said the oil minister had agreed to meet with a union delegation in the next 48 hours.But he warned that the workers would go back on strike on Sunday if remaining grievances about management practices were not resolved.

Further news, pending translation from Arabic to English tba

Second Oil Privatisation Conference in Basra

For Immediate Release

Sunday August 6th

‘Organising Against Oil Privatisation’ - Iraqi Union Holds Second Strategy Conference

Hundreds of trade unionists, political and community leaders, experts and academics, will gather in the Basra Institute of Petroleum tomorrow (Monday August 7th) to discuss the future of Iraq’s oil.

One of the aims of the conference is to develop a consensus and articulate a strategy to counter attempts to privatize Iraq’s oil industry. New Oil Minister Dr Hussein Shahrastani recently announced that Iraq’s new Energy Law will be passed by the end of the year. It is widely predicted to advocate for controversial Production Sharing Agreements to be signed with foreign oil majors. Until now, there has been no public consultation involving trade unions or other civil society groups on the country’s energy policy and economic future.

The Union believes that Iraq’s oil industry is the sovereign property of the Iraqi people and that revenue from the sale of oil should be used to rebuild Iraq on terms and conditions democratically agreed by the Iraqi people.

The two-day conference will see discussion papers presented by leading industry experts as well as trade union leaders.

The Union held its’ first historic anti-privatisation conference in May last year. Attendees included NGO and trade union delegates from the UK and USA.

At a recent press conference on union involvement in the forthcoming energy law, GUOE President Hassan Jumaa Awad stated:

‘Officials who want to prepare laws related to Iraqi oil must involve specialists in oil policies as well as professional organizations such as unions. In this way, the law will be complete and not lacking anything.’

The Union also called for the participation of Unions in ‘decisions related to work and workers’; ‘political decisions issued by the state which are related to investment and other issues’; participation ‘in the boards of directors of productive companies in order to draw up practical company policies and to be aware of issues related to companies’; and to ‘allow workers’ representatives to be involved in the provincial councils’.

UK-based NGO War on Want is a partner to the union and has provided funding to enable the conference to go ahead.

Unfortunately it was not possible to facilitate the participation of foreign delegates due to the unstable security situation in Basra.

The Union will issue a statement on decisions agreed and future steps following the conference.

Contacts

GUOE Hassan Jumaa Awad Al Assadi, President of the General Union of Oil Employees (Arabic Only) 00964 7801 001 196

Naftana (UK Support Group for the GUOE)
Ewa Jasiewicz/Sabah Jawad, 07749 421 576 freelance@mailworks.org or 07985 336 886 sabah.jawad@idao.org

PLATFORM Greg Muttitt, Researcher with PLATFORM and Specialist in Iraqi Oil Policy and the UK Agenda. Author of ‘Crude Designs’ report on Production Sharing Agreements in Iraq http://www.crudedesigns.org/ 07970 589 611

War On Want Paul Moon, International Programmes Department 020 7549 0555


Notes for Journalists

The GUOE represents over 23,000 oil workers across four provinces in nine state oil and gas companies. It is independent of all trade union federations in Iraq.

Many of the Union’s activists fought against and were persecuted by, the Baath regime. Hassan himself was jailed three times by the regime.

The Union has organised strikes, export interruptions and protest actions over foreign corporate interference (Kellogg Brown and Root was expelled from workplaces by union activists in 2003), unpaid wages, slashed wages, deliberate degradation of industrial assets, oil smuggling and corruption.

The union has also reconstructed war-damaged drilling rigs, refineries, port equipment and pipelines.

Naftana (Arabic: 'our oil') was set up by UK activists after contact with the GUOE. We are in regular contact with the leadership of the union.

See www.basraoilunion.org for statements from the union

GUOE Press Conference in Iraq: Manifesto on Union Involvement in Iraqi Oil Law

Iraqi Unions Kept Away from Oil Legislation
August 1st 2006



At the outset I would like to thank all media personnel who are trying to shed light on the hidden areas of what is happening in Iraq. There are many challenges that the important and vital oil sector faces. I think that the elected Iraqi government must take into consideration the presence of an explicit law which determines the oil policy in Iraq. This is Law No. 80 from the year 1961. It very clearly identifies oil investment areas in Iraq, how to support the national economy, and how monopolistic foreign companies should not control the oil.

At present, we are in the beginning of the twenty-first century and Iraq does not have an oil law even though oil sector constitutes 75% of the Iraqi economy. Since the fall of the great idol and the coming of the occupation forces to Iraq and since the Governing Council, the transitional government, and the government of Dr. al-Ja'fari, until this current government, which was elected by the Iraqis and has been in effect for over four months, we have not seen any results from anyone. Specialists in oil policies have not presented any projects to increase Iraqi production. All that we hear is about investment and giving great opportunities to foreign companies to invest in Iraqi oil, as if investment would save Iraq from the dilemma which is a result of the reckless policy of the entombed regime.

What was not taken into consideration is the fact that there are national cadres qualified scientifically and technically who took over this sector. During the period between the arrival of the occupation forces in 2003 and this year, these “warriors” in the oil sector brought production up to 2.5 million barrels per day without any direct or indirect intervention in the production process by the monopolistic foreign companies. These Iraqi heroes want oil to be a blessing to the Iraqis and not retribution.

The question that is posed here is: Were these experts in oil policies asked to participate in drawing up the oil law?

Which committee draws up these laws if there is no one who represents the largest oil company working in Iraq, bearing in mind that this company has experts in the oil sector?

One of the strangest things that the successive governments in Iraq overlooked after 2003 is the presence of a law that regulates work in the oil fields at the borders of Iraq’s neighboring countries such as Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. These countries have complete control over common oil fields at the borders. Why hasn’t this been taken into consideration?

Therefore, officials who want to prepare laws related to Iraqi oil must involve specialists in oil policies as well as professional organizations such as unions. In this way, the law will be complete and not lacking anything. Unions have not enjoyed their legitimate rights during the ousted regime or after the 2003 War. We can summarize the reasons as follows:

1 - Resolution No. 150 is still in effect. This resolution prevents unions from doing their work in the public sector, even although 70% of the labor force is in the public sector.

2 - There is no legal formula for the work of the unions. Union work was opposed and resisted after the fall of the previous regime. Any minister can abolish a union in his or her ministry. This happened in the Ministry of Transport where the union was abolished by the minister.

3 - There is no sufficient protection for union workers because professional work is not protected.

4 - There are political speculations and party interference in the work of unions. This has led to confusion in the work of unions and the adoption of narrow partisanship in professional work.

5 - Many officials looked forward to the disintegration of union work because of the presence of many unions. These officials felt that through plurality there is weakness; thus, they made decisions against union work.

We suggest the following measures to gain the rights of unions:

1 - Canceling resolution No. 150 issued by the dissolved regime.

2 - Unifying the union movement because there is power in unity.

3 - Preventing the union movement from being politicized or becoming a hostage in the hands of parties so that it will not be used for their party interests.

4 - Allowing unions to participate in decisions related to work and workers.

5 - Allowing unions to participate in the political decisions issued by the state which are related to investment and other issues.

6 - Allowing unions to participate in the boards of directors of the productive companies in order to draw up practical company policies and to be aware of issues related to companies.

7 - Allowing workers’ representatives to be involved in the provincial councils because they constitute the largest group.

Hassan Jum'a Awad al-Asadi Head of Oil Unions in the South 1 August 2006