In the last week of March, 2007, five major Iraqi labor federations were joined by a delegation of union leaders from the AFL-CIO led by President John Sweeney for a meeting in Amman, Joran with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to confront those institutions over their "structural adjustment" program that conditional financial assistance to Iraq on privatization of the Iraqi economy and opening of it to foreign investment. This is the final declaration adopted by the Iraqi labor federations.

Iraqi Unions’ Statement

On IMF & World Bank Economic Policies in Iraq

Whereas the war and occupation of Iraq has caused:

• Devastation of civil life and most social infra-structure
• Destruction of  basic requirements of industry
• Unprecedented and accelerated rates of unemployment
• Obstruction of public sector and state owned projects 

Whereas the last four years did not bring any improvement to the general circumstances of society;

Whereas Iraq is in need of entire rebuilding inclusive of all domains and sectors;

Whereas the majority of Iraqi population - about 70% - reside in urban settlements/large cities;

Whereas Iraq has a great reserve of oil and other natural resources which in turn will contribute tremendously to reconstruction;

Whereas the debts on Iraq are generally a result of post-war erroneous policies of the ousted Saddam régime;

We find that:

• The suggested role and policies of the IMF are against the interests of the people and the workers.
• The pre-conditions determined by the IMF contribute to deepening the social dilemmas and deterioration of living standards.
• The authorities in Iraq which recently signed and approved laws and deals with the IMF and WB, did not inform or engage the public and the workers' representatives in the decision-making process.

According to the above given, we are calling for:

• Rejection of the conditions imposed by the IMF, including the policies decided in agreement with the authorities in Iraq.
• Full participation of the representatives of workers in generating the general decisions and policies.
• Informing the unions and the society of the recommendations and decisions agreed upon with the authorities in Iraq.
• Refusal of re-structuring and privatization of public sector industries such as oil, public services, education, health, water, and electricity.
• Expanding the social responsibility of the state to supporting: the public industries, adoption of broad employment policies, the prices and the public services. 
• Issuing bills and laws of retirement and security which guarantee a decent pension for the retired, and ratification of unemployment benefits.
• Issuing a modern labor law which guarantees full rights for the workers, with total agreement with the International labor norms of the ILO.
• Participation of the representatives of workers in supervising anti-corruption bodies and legislations.
• Rejection of the draft of the Oil Investment Law, and instead developing the domestic oil industry.

Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq FWCUI, General Federation of Kurdistan Workers KGWSU, General Federation of Iraqi Workers GFIW, Federation of workers and craftsmen of Kurdistan IKWSU,  General Union of the Southern Oil sector GUOE

4-3-2007