Tell Iraq's Oil Minister: 'STOP ATTACKING TRADE UNIONISTS'

WHEN: Tuesday June 17th
WHAT TIME: 9-11am

WHERE: outside the Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, SOAS, University of
London, Thornhaugh Street Russell Square, LondonWC1

Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al Shahristani will be speaking at the
'Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone 2008' conference at
SOAS.

The Minister recently decreed that eight prominent trade union activists
from the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), plus four senior
managers from the Southern oil Company in Basra be transferred from their
workplaces in Basra to Baghdad and Nassiriyah.

These politically motivated transfers are the latest attack against trade unionists and other opponents of oil privatisation in Iraq.

The IFOU, which labelled the move 'a human rights crime', fears the transfers might have dangerous implications for the workers and their families, who face being uprooted from their communities and the prospect of moving to more violent areas where occupation forces and US-controlled militias are active.

Thanks to the struggle of the unions and people of Basra, and despite recent

government attacks, the city has been relatively safe for trade unionists to be active.

The IFOU is on the frontline of opposition to oil privatisation.


Sharistani has repeatedly ordered the shutdown of union offices and
facilities and de-recognition across the sector. Arrest warrants were
issued against IFOU leaders last summer and Iraqi troops were sent into
Basra's oil fields.


Other public sector unions such as the dock workers union in Um Qasr are

also under attack, facing mass-lay-offs as part of the US and UK-backed privatisation

drive in Iraq.


Trade unions are still illegal in Iraq - Saddam Hussein's Decree 150 of
1987 banning all unions in the public sector has been kept on the statue
books by both occupation and Iraqi authorities for the past five years.
Despite this, Iraqi unions have continued to organise and gained
de-facto recognition due to their industrial and social strength.

Yet the attacks on Iraqi trade unionists are mounting - and they need
our support.


Join us in echoing their demands in telling Sharistani to stop attacking trade unionists,

recognise their demands,

and stand up to the occupation's drive to impose long-term foreign control through the 'Oil Law' and mass privatisation.

Called for by Naftana, the UK Support Committee for the Iraqi Federation
of Oil Unions and Supported by Stop the War Coalition and the Hands Off Iraqi Oil campaign.

See www.naftana.org and www.basraoilunion.org for info