NOTE: While these resolutions refer to the Washington State Federation of Labor, they were also adopted by the national convention of the American Postal Workers Union.
Resolution on the Occupation and Labor Rights in Iraq
Whereas, since George W. Bush declared an end to the war on Iraq in April 2003, unemployment among Iraqi workers has reached 70%, causing many families to go hungry and lose their housing, and
Whereas, since Bush announced the war’s end, the US occupying authority has frozen wages for most Iraqi workers at $60/month, while eliminating previously enjoyed bonuses, profit sharing, and subsidies for food and housing, causing a sharp cut in income of those Iraqi workers still employed, and
Whereas, $87 billion was appropriated by Congress for the reconstruction of Iraq, yet not a cent has been designated for raising wages or unemployment benefits, and
Whereas, since April, 2003, Iraqi workers have been trying to reorganize their trade union movement, to improve their standard of living, and preserve their jobs and workplaces, and
Whereas, the United States has continued to enforce a 1987 law decreed by Saddam Hussein prohibiting unions and collective bargaining in the public sector and state enterprises where most Iraqis work, and
Whereas, the US occupation authority announced it intends to sell off factories, refineries, mines and other state enterprises despite the fact that these enterprises belong to the Iraqi people, not to the US, and has issued a decree, Public Order 39, allowing 100% foreign ownership of any Iraqi business and for all profits to be taken out of the country, and
Whereas, Iraqi unions are seeking to organize without any resources, while the US occupying authority withholds welfare funds, buildings and other assets previously held by unions controlled by Saddam Hussein’s government, and
Whereas, since the turning over of “sovereignty” to the interim governing authority, there has been no change in these conditions for Iraqi workers, therefore be it
Resolved, the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO calls on the government of the United States to direct the interim governing authority to honor the International Labor Organization’s core standards, including the right to organize and collectively bargain for all Iraqi workers including the public sector, and to immediately halt the process of privatizing Iraqi enterprises and selling off the property of the Iraqi people.
End The Occupation Of Iraq
Whereas, the Bush Administration carried out an invasion of Iraq under the pretense that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the capability to deploy them, and therefore posed an immediate threat to the security of the United states and the rest of the world, and
Whereas, after an extensive post-occupation search, there is no evidence that Iraq possessed WMD or the capability to deploy them, and
Whereas, the war and military occupation of Iraq has cost the lives of over 950 U.S. troops (as of 8/23/04), the wounding and disabling of thousands more, and death and injury to thousands of Iraqi civilians, and
Whereas, the war and occupation has already cost the taxpayers of the United States over a hundred billion dollars, while at the same time social and human services, education and veterans’ benefits are being cut, and
Whereas, part of the cost to taxpayers is to pay for contracts awarded to corporations that are overcharging government agencies for both occupation services and rebuilding projects, therefore be it
Resolved, the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO calls for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the immediate implementation of a plan to turn over sovereignty to the people of Iraq, and the return of U.S. troops to their homes and families.
| 
