Iraq

Shahrastani: No Legal Oil Unions in Iraq

Unions Object to Draft Hydrocarbons Law, Call for Shahrastani's Resignation

WASHINGTON, DC (UPI) -- Iraq's oil minister said Iraq's oil unions are not legitimate and have no more standing in the debate over the oil law than an ordinary citizen.

"There are no legal unions in Iraq," Hussein al-Shahristani said Wednesday in response to a question about various factions' positions on the controversial oil law. "Those people who call themselves representatives of the oil workers have not been elected to the position."

Shahristani spoke to UPI by phone from Baghdad.

The lone remaining law from the Saddam Hussein regime kept by U.S. occupying powers and the successive Iraqi government is the one that bans worker organizing in the public sector.

It is a certainty that the oil companies operating in Iraq insisted that workers be prevented from forming unions.

So lets tally up the 'successes' of the Bush Junta's foray into Iraq

• declining rights for women
• sectarian violence
• near slave labour
• banning unions
  
• little or no infrastructure
• a mountain of bodies which would make Tamlerlane blush
• massive displacement of Iraqi refugees