




The following letter was sent to Congressional
and Senatorial leaders by Leo Gerard, President of the United Steel
Workers union. This union also represents oil industry workers in
the U.S. Any help you can provide to get other national union
leaders to take a similar initiative would be of exceptional help to the
Iraqi labor movement.
July 31, 2007
VIA FAX
Honorable Carl Levin, Chairman
Honorable Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman
Honorable John McCain, Ranking Member
Honorable Michael B. Enzi, Ranking Member
Committee on Armed Services Comm. on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Honorable Joe Biden, Jr., Chairman
Honorable Daniel K. Inouye, Chairman
Honorable Richard Lugar, Ranking Member
Honorable Ted Stevens, Ranking Member
Committee on Foreign Relations Senate Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate Subcommittee on Defense
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Honorable Patrick J. Leahy, Chairman
Honorable Judd Gregg, Ranking Member
Senate Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations,
and Related Programs
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senators:
I am writing to alert you to two important issues connected with the
ongoing occupation and
war in Iraq. Though not widely discussed in the U.S., these issues are
central to the challenges
faced by the Iraqi people. They concern the viability of the Iraqi labor
movement and the fate of
Iraqs oil.
One of the few benign effects of deposing Saddam Hussein has been the
emergence,
despite opposition from both the U.S. authority and many parts of the
Iraqi government, of a vibrant
and growing labor movement. This is crucially important, because to all
appearances the labor
movement is one of the few organizations structured on a secular basis,
has genuine popular
support, and has membership across the growing ethnic and sectarian
divisions.
This suggests that the labor movement in Iraq is one of the few
organizations capable of
playing a significant role in lessening and hopefully ending the
sectarian strife plaguing their
country. We strongly believe the views of this labor movement should be
heard much more clearly
in Washington than they have been to date.
Enclosed, you will find two articles by free-lance journalist David
Bacon, describing recent
labor issues in Iraq, as well as an interview he conducted with the
heads of the electrical workers
union and the oil workers union.
A number of issues need to be emphasized. First, these leaders believe
strongly that
sectarian strife will ease, and that unions will be able to act with
substantially more freedom when
the U.S. military presence has ended.
Second, the unions believe equally strongly that Iraqs oil is a
national resource that should
not be privatized, and specifically that oil privatization should not be
used as any kind of
benchmark of the Iraqi governments success or failure. They state,
and we agree, that the oil
privatization law now under consideration by Iraqs government is
designed to benefit the
multinational oil companies; not the Iraqi people.
Additionally, we believe several policies imposed by the U.S. occupation
administration
under its former head Paul Bremer and by subsequent Iraqi governments
should be rescinded.
These include the continuation in force of a Saddam Hussein-era law
banning collective bargaining
in Iraqs public sector, an onerously low general wage schedule, and the
complete sequestration of
union funds by the government.
Therefore we ask that you do all you can to oppose the privatization of
Iraqs oil resources,
correct the inequities present in Iraqi labor policy, and continue to
support an end to the U.S.
military presence in Iraq
Thank you very much for your consideration of these vitally important
matters.
Sincerely,
Leo W. Gerard
International President
LWG/ctl
cc: House and Senate Leadership
USW International Executive Board
