Tell Hillary Clinton to speak out for labor rights in Iraq
USLAW Launches Petition Campaign in Support of Labor Rights in Iraq
SIGN THE PETITION
Since
the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S. and Iraqi governments have
continued to enforce Saddam Hussein's 1987 law that bars unions and
collective bargaining in all public sector and enterprise workplaces.
Iraqi
unions have organized (at great risk and with great sacrifices) but
without the protection of a basic labor law, even though the Iraqi
constitution requires one and Iraq is signatory to the International
Labor Organization Convention on the right to organize and bargain.
Union
leaders and activists have suffered harassment, beatings, detention,
torture and even assassination. Union offices have been raided and
vandalized by US and Iraqi troops. Union bank accounts and assets have
been frozen.
Through all this, the U.S. government has remained silent.
U.S. Labor Against the War has posted a petition
that calls upon Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as the principal
foreign policy representative of the government, to speak out for labor
rights in Iraq and press the Iraqi government to respect and protect
the rights of workers and unions.
Please take a moment to add your voice to the international movement in solidarity with the courageous unions and workers of Iraq.
When we strengthen labor rights in Iraq, we also strengthen our fight for labor rights right here in the U.S.
SIGN THE PETITION HERE
Forward this appeal to others
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Take Action in Solidarity with Iranian Trade Unionists
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International Campaign
to Free Iranian May Day Detainees
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Learn more and TAKE ACTION HERE!
More news about the situation in Iran
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Erbil Conference Launches New Iraqi Union Confederation
Help Iraqi unions repay the $60,000 in loans
they had to take out to pay for this conference.
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USLAW National Leadership Council Meets
Adopts 2009 Priorities
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June 25th
Torture Accountability Action Day
Protest in Washington, DC
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Quote of the Day: The Truth Is ...
'America went to war against Iraq based
on a lie.
We were told back in 2002 that Iraq had weapons of
mass destruction.
The previous administration even pursued torture to try
to extract false confessions in order to justify the war.
It is time to tell
the truth.
- The truth is we should not have prosecuted a war against the
Iraqi people.
- The truth is the Democratic Senate could have stopped the Iraq
war in 2002.
- The truth is we Democrats were given control of Congress in 2006
to end the war.
- The truth is this bill continues a disastrous war, which
has cost the lives of thousands of our soldiers.
- The truth is the occupation
has fueled the insurgency.
- The truth is the Iraq war will cost
the American and the Iraqi people trillions of dollars and as many as a
million innocent Iraqis have lost their lives as a result of this
war.
'Don't tell the American people that you are ending the war by
continuing to fund the war.
Don't tell the American people that the war will
end when their plans leave 50, 000 troops in Iraq.
Don't tell the
American people that the way out of Afghanistan is to escalate our
presence.
'Get out of Iraq. Get out Afghanistan. Come
home America.'
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), speaking on a supplemental
appropriations bill that would continue to fund the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan
May 14, 2009
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Iraq Workers Take Strike Action to Demand Pay, Fair Treatment
Petrochemical workers organize protest
Textile, leather, petrochemical, oil pipeline and other workers take action to defend their conditions and demand fair treatment.
Learn more . . .
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May Day Greeting
from USLAW to the
Workers and Labor Movement of Iraq
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It's OUR Money. See how Congress spends it!
How they tell us they spend it.
The Government
Deception
The
pie chart below is the government view of the budget. This is a distortion of
how our income tax dollars are spent because it includes Trust Funds (e.g.,
Social Security), and the expenses of past military spending are not distinguished
from nonmilitary spending. For a more accurate representation of how your
Federal income tax dollar is really spent, see the large chart
How they ACTUALLY Spend it!
Total
Outlays (Federal Funds):
$2,650 billion
MILITARY: 54% and $1,449 billion
NON-MILITARY: 46% and $1,210 billion
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Labor Joins April 4th
UFPJ March on Wall St.
USLAW Labor Contingent
Photo Credit: Sue Ruggles, AFT Local 212, Milwaukee, WI
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THOUSANDS MARCH TO MARK THE 6TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE IRAQ INVASION
Photo credit: Bill Hackwell
- MORE -
Here are few scenes from the "March on the Pentagon" rally held on Saturday, March 21, 2009, in Washington, D.C. After listening to some speakers, the huge, and colorful, demonstration moved from its base camp just south of the Lincoln Memorial, across the Memorial Bridge, which spans the Potomac River, into Northern Virginia. On the Virginia side, it crossed east towards the Pentagon and then beyond it to other sites, housing the "Merchants of War-Making." This video covers the demonstration only up and until it crossed on to the Memorial Bridge.
Bay Area Labor Rallies & Marches Against the Occupations
Complete Rally Multimedia Photos and Audio
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USLAW Statement on the Crisis in Gaza
Support USLAW's international solidarity work with a generous donation HERE.
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Wear and distribute them during the election campaign.
Keep the issue of the war front and center.
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The REAL PRICE
of Occupation
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Click on the image below to see a 10 minute slide show on the real price of the occupation for working people.
or click HERE to see a fully narrated 20 minute English version
0 haga clic para aquí ver un completamente narrado 26 minuto la versión española
Click HERE for information about this show and how to download it or order a copy on DVD (English and Spanish)
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Dividing Iraq
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Iraq: Before & After
Are Iraqis better off now than before the invasion?
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"Mission Accomplished" - Iraqi Oil to Flow into Coffers of Big Oil
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Statement by Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions
to 2008 Chevron and ExxonMobil Shareholder Meetings
by
Hassan Juma'a Awad, President
Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions c/o
USLAW
On May 28, 2008, Chevron and ExxonMobil Corporations each conducted their annual shareholder meetings. Chevron convened its meeting at its world headquarters in San Ramon, CA. ExxonMobil conducted its meeting in Dallas, Texas. Antiwar, environmental and other social justice organizations conducted protests at each event.
Read More »
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AFL-CIO and ITUC Challenge Iraqi Government
on Labor Rights
From the day the
dictatorship fell, Iraqi workers have demanded the right to organize their own
unions, free of government interference. They have demanded all of the rights
established by the International Labour Organization - foremost the rights to
freely organize, bargain and, when necessary, to strike. The new Iraqi
Constitution calls for the adoption of a basic labor law that recognizes and
codifies these rights.
The Maliki regime
has instead ordered labor elections in June in which workers are to designate
their unions and elect union leadership. However, workers in all public
enterprises (including the entire oil industry) are barred from voting, and the
government retains the right to disqualify union leaders chosen by the workers
in those elections. The elections will apparently result in only one
government-approved labor federation, rather than providing union pluralism
required by ILO standards (and already established in fact by the workers
themselves in the variety of labor organizations they created after the
overthrow of Saddam Hussein).
It
is in this context that John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO, and Guy Rider,
General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), have
written strong protests to Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki.
Read More »
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