From: "Mahmood ketabchi" <mekchi@msn.com>

After 7 Months of diligent and relentless work by the Preparatory Committee to Establish Workers? Councils and Trade Unions in Iraq, the first conference of workers unions and councils in Iraq took place in Baghdad on December 8th, 2003. This conference was the fruit of the PCEWCTUI?s activities and hard efforts to gather many workers around the unions and councils, as well as the foundation of many local unions and workers? councils across Iraq.

After 7 hours of serious discussions around main agenda topics, the participants at the conference articulated a list of workers immediate demands and wrote a draft of a new Iraqi Labour Code and the main outlines for a labour legislation. The participating delegations at the conference elected the members of the leadership committee.

At the end, the attendees endorsed a resolution to dissolve PCEWCUI and establish the Workers? Councils and Unions in Iraq - WCUI.

The main discussions at the conference addressed the most basic and pressing issues of workers. The discussions provided a clear perspective to address the needs of the working class and a clear vision in the form of an action plan for the union. The most wonderful phenomenon, which drew everyone?s attention, was the participation of workers? representatives from across Iraq, from the farthest southern Basra to the northern Sulaimaniya. Also, representatives of workers and Union of the Unemployed in Iraq-UUI from Kirkuk, Nassiriyah, Ramadi, Hilla, Kut, Samawa, in addition to Baghdad workers, were present at the conference.

This conference has proven to all that the workers of Iraq do not recognize any religious, racial, tribal, or ethnic divisions among their ranks. The workers showed that they can unite despite the current political wrangling in Iraq and attempts to divide Iraq along ethnic, religious, and nationalistic lines. At the time when the right-wing anti-workers political forces are fighting among themselves to gain more positions for themselves and are unable to unite, the workers have proven to be able to establish their free and independent union.

Long Live Working Class Solidarity

Long Live the Willpower of Workers

Conference of the Workers? Councils and Unions in Iraq-WCUI


Ba?athist Yellow Unions Are not Allowed to Represent Trade Unions in Iraq!


On 30/11/2003, a rally was organized by the so-called Workers? Revolutionary Party to mark the 34th anniversary of their organ ?News Line?. They had invited two Ba?athist trade unionists, Karim Hamza and Jammel Aljabouri Secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions in Iraq (these trade unions exited during the previous regime). I went along to this meeting to distribute publications of the Union of the Unemployed in Iraq, a post war union established by the unemployed workers to demand their rights. But what I came across was disgusting and outrageous. The generous welcome and applaud offered to these Iraqi Ba?athist trade unionists were unbelievable. Members of the WRP told me and my friend Dashti Jamal who is representing the UUI in London to go out and not to distribute our literature. I tried, in case they were not aware of the affiliation of those Iraqi trade unionists and that they were supporting Ba?athist unions and this was clearly an act against the workers in Iraq. The funny thing was that they were exchanging niceties and international greetings and solidarity in the name of workers in Iraq. My attempts to inform them of the true nature of the trade union that their guests were representing were in vain. The ?General federation Of Trade Unions in Iraq? is commonly known in Iraq as the Yellow Union and it was a Ba?athist union.

During the Ba?ath regime there were no independent unions and the trade unions at that time were controlled by the regime and they were a tool at the hands of the Ba?ath regime to suppress workers and exploit them in many different inhumane ways. These Unions played a crucial role in sending thousands of workers to the war fronts during the Iran ? Iraq war. These union leaders took pride in reporting to the security forces those refusing to go to the fronts. Countless numbers workers met their death as a result of the actions of the so-called trade unionists. Also these unions implemented the Ba?ath regime?s policy of changing the word Worker to ?Officer? in an attempt to eliminate workers demands and say that there is no such thing as working class in Iraq, and that every one who works is an ?officer? not a worker. The history of the Ba?athist trade unions is as grim and bloody as the history of the Ba?ath regime. They have only played a destructive role in the lives of workers in Iraq. These unions were working, and promoting the anti workers policies of Ba?ath party in which workers had no rights of association, strikes, and freedom of speech and expression. Since the collapse of the Ba?athist regime the genuine and real workers movement has expressed its manifestation in various ways.

The workers in Iraq have managed to present a radical agenda of change and to carry forward the demands of workers. The establishment of the Union of Unemployed, the workers councils, and the union of Oil Workers Company in the North of the country and also the preparatory committee for establishment of workers councils and trade unions which is having its first conference in Baghdad on 8/12/2003 to establish the real workers unions are a few example of the extend of the current workers movement in Iraq. All these workers organizations have been set up with direct participation of workers themselves to advocate and promote their rights, welfare and freedom.

The Union of the Unemployed in Iraq have carried out many mass strikes since its establishment in (1/05/2003) to demand jobs, security and welfare for the unemployed workers in Iraq, and this union has more than 130,000 members across Iraq. Its leaders are workers who have been resisting the Ba?ath regime, and they have endured intimidation and arrests by the coalition forces for defending workers, and the unemployed people of Iraq. These are the real people and representatives of workers in Iraq. The Workers? Revolutionary Party is trying to help to restore the rein of the Ba?ath party in the name of workers solidarity. The working class in Iraq has been the silent victim of the regime and have suffered untold hardships at the hands of the Ba?ath regime and its so-called trade unions.

Promoting this kind of people who have the blood of Iraqi workers on their hands is a disgrace. Supporting and providing a platform for these people is an affront to the Iraqi working class and is tantamount to collaborating in the atrocities committed against the workers in Iraq.

I call upon all workers, trade unions and leftist parties in the UK and across the world to boycott these yellow unions and any kind of Ba?athist initiatives by any one who is trying to damage the struggle of workers and their true Trade Unions and workers organisations in Iraq. I call upon all of you to support the radical workers, women?s and youth movement in Iraq through giving your support to the Union of Unemployed, Organisation of Women?s Freedom, and preparatory committee for the establishment of workers councils and trade unions in Iraq.


No to Ba?thist Criminals
Houzan Mahmoud


Member of Worker communist party of Iraq / Britain committee
Houzan73@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: +44 (7956 88 3001)

Baghdad, December 8, 2003

Address of the Abroad Representative of the Union of the Unemployed in Iraq UUI: Post Box 325, CH-3000 Bern 11, Switzerland. Tel: 0041 78 882 55 89 Email:asojabbar@yahoo.com


Letter to the President of the Supreme Committee to Dismantle the Baath Party (SCDBP).***

Dear Sir,
In an effort to dismantle the Baath party and thwart forever any attempt by the fascist regime to return to power in Iraq, the Preparatory Committee to Establish Workers? Councils and Trade Unions in Iraq announces that it regards all trade unions and labour organisations associated with the Baath regime illegitimate.

The PCEWCTU considers the so-called General Union of Workers? Trade Unions in Iraq dissolved, as this organization, like many other Baath regime?s institutions and apparatuses, represents an oppressive and espionage apparatus against workers.

The PCEWCTU occupied the Baathist unions? building at al-Rashid Street, and has protected it from looting and vandalism since after the war. It has furnished the ground floor and put it under the disposal of workers? representatives. The PCEWCTU also formed workers? committees in many enterprises, workshops and production units, preparing for electing workers? representatives and holding a founding congress to establish trade unions elected freely by workers without intervention or guardianship from anyone. However, we were shocked by the decision taken by al-Rasafa court, which asked us to evacuate the building and return it to the Baathists headed by Mr. Jamel Salman al-Jobory, president of the General Union of Workers? Trade Unions in Iraq and member of the Professional Bureau which belong to the so-called Baath party?s Regional Command along with Karim abdulla Hamza and other members of Professional Bureau, all very senior members of the dissolved Baath party.

In order to participate in implementing resolutions number 1 and 2 issued by your committee (SCDBP), we find it very necessary that we cooperate together to achieve this task.

The PCEWCTU reclaiming its office, which originally belongs to workers, will help distancing the Baathists from a wide section of the society i.e. the workers.

Falih Maqtof Qasid

Legal representative of the Preparatory Committee for Workers Councils and Trade Unions

Kasim Hadi and Adil Salih, two union leaders, held a Press Conference in Baghdad after their release from the US-prisons.

Today, December 3, 2003, in Baghdad, Union of Unemployed in Iraq -UUI and Worker Communist Party of Iraq held a press conference attended by the different news agencies and some families of the American Soldiers who have been killed in Iraq. In this press conference, Kasim Hadi and Adil Salih explained about the maltreatment they received at the hands of US administration and the circumstances of their arrest. They said the US administration tried to manufacture false accusations and charges against them. They told the Media that they had been detained outside in a very cold weather for more than 4 hours with their hands tightened up form the back and that their imprisonment lasted for 5 days without any official accusation. Kasim Hadi and Adil Salih said the US forces apologised to them and released them from the prison stating that they were arrested by mistake.

Then, Kasim and Adil answered different questions from the participants including several questions from the family members of the American soldiers who have been killed in Iraq after the occupation and war on Iraq. Many news agencies attended this conference including the TV channel Al-Iraqiya which published a live report about this conference, correspondents of Al-Hayat newspaper in Baghdad and some of the international Medias like CNN, a TV channel from Greece and others.

We would like here to thank all the trade unions, political parties, freedom loving individuals, political figures and human rights activists who sent protest letters to US Administration, condemned the arrest of Kasim Hadi and Adil Salih, and expressed their solidarity with us. We congratulate all freedom loving people in Iraq and all over the world, and specially the members of the UUI for the release of both UUI activists.

Union of the Unemployed in Iraq-UUI

Aso Jabbar, Representative Abroad Bern

5. December 2003

Appeal to international labour organisations:
Iraqi workers need your support


Iraqi workers find themselves in exceptionally difficult circumstances. On top of the war, bombing and carnage, the massive unemployment and months of unpaid wages have brought them much hardship and distress. Their protests for jobs, unemployment benefit and basic rights have come under attack by the US forces. After 35 years of repression under the Baathist regime, they are faced with new repression and new repressors.

The US administration and local reactionaries are united in their opposition to workers' rights. In July a peaceful sit-in of the unemployed was attacked by the US military forces who arrested Qasim Hadi, the President of the Union of the Unemployed in Iraq (UUI), as well as 54 other demonstrators. Only after strong protest by international labour organisations were they forced to release the detainees. Also, in a raid recently on the headquarters of the union, US soldiers arrested the union's president and another leading member of the union, but were forced to release them under international pressure. UUI has also been the target of attack by Islamic groups, who find the growth of a strong labour movement inimical to their reactionary plans for Iraqi society. They have used physical violence and death threats to undermine the struggle of the unemployed. In July a march of the jobless in the city of Naseriye was attacked by Islamists with stones.

Iraqi workers need the support of international labour organisations in their fight for their rights. This support is crucial not only in helping them win their justified demands, but also in order to help avert the nightmare scenarios in the making by both the bullying US administration and political Islam. A stronger Iraqi working class can save Iraqi society from the hands of the likes of Bush, Blair, Bin Laden and Saddam. A stronger labour movement in Iraq can ensure that Iraqi society follows a better, fairer and more humane path. As shown by the history of the labour movement, any society's degree of respect for justice, fairness and freedom is in direct proportion to the social weight and presence of its working class. Today, a strong, assertive and organised working class in Iraq is the absolute need and hope of Iraqi society.

The Union of the Unemployed in Iraq is one of the first attempts of Iraqi workers to organise themselves to defend their rights and livelihood. With over 100,000 members, it is a strong voice for welfare and freedom in Iraq today. For the past six months, it has been waging a vigorous fight for jobs and unemployment benefit for the millions of Iraqis made unemployed as a result of the war. It deserves the wholehearted support of the international labour movement.

The USA is the natural ally of the upstart bourgeois and reactionaries in Iraq. Their representatives have already taken their seats on the handpicked Iraqi Governing Council - an oppressive and reactionary assembly of religious mafia, political charlatans, despots and misogynists, ethnic and tribal chiefs and criminal bandits.

In their fight for their rights, Iraqi workers have their own natural allies: international labour organisations, socialists, civil rights activists and the rest of civilised humanity. Your solidarity is crucial for saving Iraqi society from the nightmare of life under US-sponsored despotism or political Islam and ensuring a better future for Iraqi workers and people and their children.

Worker Communist Party of Iran

Residents of Huda Neighborhood in Baghdad March against Mass Evictions

On December 24, 2003, hundreds of residents of Huda neighborhood in Baghdad poured into the streets in a demonstration organized by the Worker-communist Party of Iraq against the decision of the Interior Ministry to evict them from their current houses. They marched early in the morning from Huda neighborhood to the WPIraq?s office at al-Rashid Street, several kilometers away. They gathered in front of the office to start their march at 9:00 am across al-Jomhuryiah bridge toward the Occupation Provisional Administration?s office. The demonstrators held banners and placards asking for their rights to housing accommodation and condemning the decision to evict them from the governmental buildings they had moved into due to poverty and unaffordable rents. The demonstrators also chanted slogans reflecting the same demands.

The protesters gathered before the Occupation Civil Administration located in the former Conferences Place. A delegation, including the WPIraq and the residents of Huda neighborhood, met officials in OCA. The delegation was told that the residents can stay in their houses and that they will be provided with written permission giving them the right to maintain their houses.

To celebrate the success of their protest, the demonstrators marched through Saadon Street to the other office of WPIraq at al-Zaaim Street. The demonstrators were holding the red banners of WPIraq and chanting slogans in support of the Party. The protesters then gathered in front of the party?s office where Zmnako Aziz, a member of the Political Bureau and Layla Muhammad, a member of Central Committee of the party, delivered speeches praising the protesters and promising to stand by them until they achieve their other demands and wishes.

Amjad Khafor, the head of Political Bureau, and Shemal Ali, a member of the political Bureau of WPIraq received the protesters in the party?s office and congratulated them on their success. The gathering ended after a short celebration and a distribution of sweets among the demonstrators who expressed their thanks and respect for the party and its cadres.

The demonstration was an occasion to show the integration between the deprived people and the Worker-communist Party of Iraq, which stands in the forefront of the masses? struggle for a better future.

Worker-communist Party of Iraq
December 24, 2003


The Employees of KIMADI Hold a Demonstration
Demanding their Rights



We, the employees of the General Company of Medicine and Medical Equipment- KIMADI will organize a demonstration demanding our share in the annual profit of this company. The US Advisors to the Ministry of Health have seized every penny in the company?s Budget, including the annual profit, which belongs to us, the Employees, and thus they denied us of the bulk of our annual allowances.

KIMADIA is a public company, and according to the wage system in Iraq, a part of any public enterprise?s annual profit belongs to the employees. We were about to receive our share of the annual profit for the financial year 2002, when the coalition forces invaded Iraq and decided to deny us our allowances. We have written and talked to the authorities in the Ministry of Health many times asking for our rights. However, they have refused to meet our demands. Therefore, we decided to protest against the decision of the US advisors to the Health Ministry and to inform the local and international public opinion about our fair demand.

We will hold our demonstration on Wednesday, December 24, 2003. It will start at al-Tehrir Square and then proceed across al-Jimhurye bridge to the Coalition Provisional Authority?s headquarters.

The Employees of KIMADI


A Report on: The Conference of the Workers? Councils
and Unions in Iraq.


On December 8, 2003, the founding conference of the Federation of Workers? Councils and Unions was held in Baghdad in the presence of tens of representatives of councils and trade unions from across Iraq.

The conference commenced with a minute of silence to remember those who lost their lives for the liberation of the working class. Falah Alwan delivered the opening speech. Alwan pointed out that the Iraqi working class can play a crucial role in deciding the political future of Iraqi society only if it can emerge as a powerful force. He said developing political power depends in the first place on the level of unity and organisation of the workers? ranks.

Next, Qasim Hadi, the president of the Union of Unemployed in Iraq, addressed the conference and also emphasized the necessity of unity among workers, employed and unemployed. He also stressed that achieving unemployment benefits would strengthen the workers? ranks and their unions.

Akram Muhammad delivered a speech on behalf of the Union of Unemployed in the Iraq- Suleimaniyiah branch. He said ?with this conference we aim to give a signal to our fellow workers and the Iraqi society to come and join us.? He added, ?We the workers and freedom- loving people of Iraq are able to overcome all religious, ethnic, and tribal obstacles and divisions and forge ahead toward class unity.? Other speakers also emphasized the necessity of workers emerging as a united and organized class force in order to achieve their objectives.

Shemal Ali, the member of the political Bureau of the Worker-communist Party of Iraq concluded the speeches. He pointed to the importance of the conference in developing a united working class struggle. Ali said this struggle was for the liberation of the society from capitalist exploitation and to save the masses from the current horrible situation and the dreadful and grim scenario whose first chapter had already unfolded in Iraq.

The conference participants then discussed the topics of its agenda. The attendees spoke about a list of the most urgent demands of the working class in Iraq and a draft for a progressive labour law and legislation. The conference endorsed all proposed drafts with some simple alterations to be added by the leading body of the Federation after the elections.

The conference also passed other resolutions including:

1. Demanding the immediate withdrawal of the occupation forces and that the United Nations undertake the responsibility to provide security and stability in Iraq and give the masses in Iraq the opportunity to form an authority, which represent people and their aspirations.

2. Launching a campaign locally and internationally to disband the so-called General Federation of Trade Unions in Iraq led by the Baathist- Jamel Salman al-Jobory and to hand over the belongings and the building of trade unions to workers and their legitimate unions.

3. Inviting all other freely elected trade unions and labour organizations to join the Federation of Workers? Councils and Unions in Iraq or cooperate with it for the sake of working class unity and to combat the Baathist organizations which appear and act under misguiding names. This unity can be built around issues, such as, calling for common strikes and organizing demonstrations.

In the end, the leading body of the Federation of Workers? Councils and Unions in Iraq was elected and the results were as follow:

1. Falah Alwan 35 votes
2. Qasim Hadi 24 votes
3. Akram Muhammad 22 votes
4. Aoffi Mathi 18 votes
5. Rashid Ismail 14 votes
6. Naim Shlaka 12 votes
7. Raji Suheil 12 votes
8. Hakim Hassan 12 votes
9. Moamar Majid 11 votes


Falah Alwan, the newly elected president of the Federation, ended the conference with closing remarks in which he officially announced the establishment of the Federation of Workers? Councils and Unions in Iraq amid a warm ovation from the attendees.

By the correspondent of Shoayiah al-Omalyiah (Worker-communism)



Killing Civilians and Endangering Civil Life under any Pretext Is Terrorism


Led by Saman Karim, a member of the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq?s Political Bureau, activists organized a mass demonstration in Kirkuk on December 20, 2003 against terrorism and terrorists. The Union of Unemployed in Kirkuk also participated in this demonstration. The demonstration began at the WPI?s office near the Old Court, marching on Atlas Street toward Martyrs Bridge. The demonstrators displayed party placards and banners reading ?A terrorist is anyone who kills civilians and endangers civil life under any pretext,? ?The dictator?Saddam Hussein, must be brought to justice in a mass public trial,? and ?Strengthen and advance your struggle against terrorism and terrorists by joining the Worker-communist Party of Iraq?.

Photos of Rebwar Ahmad, the leader of WPIraq and Mansoor Hekmat, the immortal leader of Worker-communism, were also present in the demonstration. During the course of the demonstration, participants were chanting the party?s slogans, which attracted the attention of bystanders along Atlas Street. Among these slogans were ?No to Baathism, No to the USA, Yes to Workers? Rule,? ?No to Baathism, No to Communalism, Yes to a Secular Government,? ?No to Baathism, No to Communalism, Yes to the Rule of the Masses,? and ?No to Terrorism, Yes to Security and Stability?. In addition to slogans and speeches by Azad Ahmad and Haitham Ali, they stressed the secular-humanist character of the city of Kirkuk.

As demonstrators gathered at the end of Martyrs? Bridge, the demonstration attracted and encompassed a huge number of people in the city where Saman Karim delivered a speech, which was received warmly by the demonstrators. Subsequently, after chanting several slogans the demonstration was declared over.