Iraqi Labor Leaders in DC Protesting Oil Law, US Troops

Published: June 6, 2007 at 6:04 PM
WASHINGTON, June 6 (UPI) -- Iraqi labor leaders are in Washington lobbying against Iraq's proposed oil law and for a withdrawal of U.S. troops.
The oil law "is an economic occupation of Iraq," Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, the president of Iraq's Electric Utility Workers' Union, told supporters -- including presidential contender Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio -- on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
Hussein, the first woman to head a major union in Iraq, and other Iraqi labor leaders kicked-off a visit to 12 cities nationwide, sponsored by U.S. anti-war and labor groups.
Speaking through an interpreter, she said if the Iraqi Parliament agreed to the law as Washington is pressing it to, it "would start a new series of tragedies ... because the law allows more than 70 percent of the profits (to be) under the control" of foreign companies.
"This is a project for the privatization of the Iraqi economy," she said.
Also with her on the visit is Faleh Abood Umara, general secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions.
The visit, only the second by Iraqi labor leaders since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion, is sponsored by U.S. Labor Against the War, the American Friends Service Committee and United for Peace and Justice.
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Shaun Waterman, UPI Homeland and National Security Editor

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US Congresswoman Slams Iraqi Govt Threats to Striking Oil Workers

Woolsey blasts threats to Iraq oil workers

WASHINGTON, June 6 Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., said Iraqi threats to its striking oil workers are undemocratic during a briefing with a visiting Iraqi unionist.

"If they are working for a true democracy, working rights have to be front and center," Woolsey said during the briefing with Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, president of the Electrical Utility Workers Union. Woolsey was responding to questions about the ongoing strike in Basra, in southern Iraq, where workers began striking Monday over frustrations that demands for better working conditions and inclusion in the negotiations over the draft oil law have not been met.

Earlier Wednesday, Iraqi troops surrounded the workers, who stopped oil and oil products flow inside Iraq and were starting to affect exports, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued arrest warrants for leaders, though none was arrested.

Though details aren't known, there is word from U.S. labor leaders that the workers agreed to a five-day pause in the strike as negotiations restarted.

It's "just the opposite of what we are supposed to be there for," Woolsey said in response to questions on the proper U.S. response as occupying power. "Our current administration doesn't support the workers rights we have in this country," said Woolsey, chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and Labor ' s Subcommittee on Workforce Protections. Hussein, the electric workers' leader, said her union isn't under the same federation of unions that struck, but expressed solidarity with them.

"We consider the oil law is a bad law and it needs significant changes," she said. The law, which is stuck in negotiations between Kurds and the central government, but backed by the U.S. government, is feared by the unions and others as giving too much access to and, possibly, control over Iraq ' s oil, the world ' s third-largest reserves. Hussein began a U.S. tour Tuesday, sponsored by U.S. Labor Against the War, to talk about the law and other issues Iraqis face. Faleh Abood Umara, general secretary of the Federation of Oil Unions, will join her Thursday.Ben Lando, UPI Energy Correspondent

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