6/22 Update: Report from Berkeley event
Six Iraqi labor organizers are touring the US to speak with the labor movement, and they are in the Bay Area this week. Their plan is to educate US trade unionists about the conditions faced by Iraqi workers and their struggles, and to build direct worker-to-worker, union-to-union solidarity and support for Iraqi trade unionists in their effort to build a progressive, secular Iraq. The Iraqis are speaking in San Jose on Sunday, June 19th at 1:30pm. They will be in Berkeley on Sunday night at 7:00pm. They will speak in Martinez on Tuesday, June 21st at 6:00pm.

Unemployment in Iraq stands at 50% nationwide and as high as 70% in some areas. The base industrial wage of Iraqi workers was lowered by the Occupation Authorities from $60 to $40 a month, but prices for food and other necessities skyrocketed. The occupying forces also set wages for workers employed in the public sector at 69,000 dinars a month, or about $35. Most Iraqi workers are employed in the public sector.

Workers often work 11 and 13 hour shifts without additional pay. Children often have to sell motor oil that is given to their parents instead of wages. Some workers used to receive bonuses, but these have been abolished. Electricity, healthcare, clean water and basic services are in short supply, in addition to the hazardous security situation faci ng many Iraqis.

Without a process to settle serious problems at the workplace, many Iraqi workers have gone on strike to correct grievances on the job. They are striking for the right to organize, wage increases linked to inflation, a ban on overtime, improved health and safety standards, payment of promised bonuses, and the removal of corrupt managers. In some cases, they have been shot at in response.

Read more on the US Labor Against the War website