Friday, May 11, 2007
Iraq's oil workers threaten to strike on Monday
Oil
(UPI) - Iraq's government will respond to oil workers who have delayed a strike that could take 1.6 million barrels per day from the market. In a news release Tuesday, the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions said it would stop work Thursday in opposition of the proposed hydrocarbons law, as well as other worker conditions.
Michael Eisenscher, national coordinator of U.S. Labor Against the War, said the workers postponed the strike until Monday "because they had a conversation with somebody at the Oil Ministry who said they wanted to respond to workers demands and needed time to prepare a response." USLAW is a coalition of labor unions in regular communication with Iraqi workers, including organizing a tour of the United States for Iraqi labor leaders in June.
The IFOU boasts more than 26,000 members, mostly in the southern region where most of Iraq's 2 million bpd are produced and all of the 1.6 million bpd are exported. The vast majority of that goes through the port of Basra. "If the port were to close down, that's one way of bottling it up," Eisenscher said, as well as utilizing "critical workers in the pipeline area or refineries."
The unions have struck before, successfully fighting wage decreases and privatization. "It's an issue of such import to them that I can't imagine they wouldn't have tremendous support for workers," Eisenscher said. The unions oppose language that they deem offers too much of Iraq's 115 billion barrels of proven reserves to foreign companies.
"Since we are working to make progress in production, we need a real participation in all the laws that are related to the oil policy," IFOU President Hassan Jumaa Awad told United Press International in March. "We are the sons of this sector, and we have the management and technical capability and we have the knowledge on all the oil fields."
Michael Eisenscher, national coordinator of U.S. Labor Against the War, said the workers postponed the strike until Monday "because they had a conversation with somebody at the Oil Ministry who said they wanted to respond to workers demands and needed time to prepare a response." USLAW is a coalition of labor unions in regular communication with Iraqi workers, including organizing a tour of the United States for Iraqi labor leaders in June.
The IFOU boasts more than 26,000 members, mostly in the southern region where most of Iraq's 2 million bpd are produced and all of the 1.6 million bpd are exported. The vast majority of that goes through the port of Basra. "If the port were to close down, that's one way of bottling it up," Eisenscher said, as well as utilizing "critical workers in the pipeline area or refineries."
The unions have struck before, successfully fighting wage decreases and privatization. "It's an issue of such import to them that I can't imagine they wouldn't have tremendous support for workers," Eisenscher said. The unions oppose language that they deem offers too much of Iraq's 115 billion barrels of proven reserves to foreign companies.
"Since we are working to make progress in production, we need a real participation in all the laws that are related to the oil policy," IFOU President Hassan Jumaa Awad told United Press International in March. "We are the sons of this sector, and we have the management and technical capability and we have the knowledge on all the oil fields."
Labels: Hassan Jumaa Awad, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, oil workers, strikes
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions wants Iraq's oil to be state-controlled
Oil
(UPI) - Hassan Jumaa Awad wants Iraq's oil to stay under state control, and the unionists, who have long worked the rigs, to be supported in developing the national resource. But this is no request from the president of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions. It's a demand. The IFOU represents more than 26,000 workers organized under various unions in the oil-rich southern and northern areas of Iraq. Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, together they've operated Iraq's oil sector before, during and after Saddam Hussein. Their rights to officially unionize are still denied under a 1978 Saddam law, one of a few of the former president's laws the U.S. occupation and the Iraqi Parliament upheld.
Kurdish and central government negotiators reached a deal last month on the framework for a law governing Iraq's oil. Details on ownership rights and revenue sharing are still far from finalized. The Iraq National Oil Co. would restart but compete with foreign oil companies, who could win contracts giving them partial ownership of the respective fields. INOC "should have full privileges," Awad said, "and we don't agree on the production partnership."
Iraq's oil has been nationalized for four decades. Iraqis view it with a pride of ownership, something the law would reduce if the contract language allowing for foreign ownership stands. The unions were kept in the dark, as were most members of Iraq's parliament, until the draft law was leaked to the media. Even then it was still out the reach of most of Iraq's citizens.
Oil unions led large strikes in the 1940s and 1950s. In the past four years, Iraqi oil workers stopped work when they weren't being paid or when a foreign subcontractor was hired to replace them. They only threatened to strike after the Coalition Provisional Authority ordered wages decreased. The Iraq Oil Ministry balked. This prompted other unions, like dock workers in Umm Qasr and Zubair, to edge out foreign corporations given contracts.
The IFOU could shut down Iraq's production if the draft hydrocarbons law stands. With oil revenue funding 93 percent of the federal budget, that's a large bargaining chip. Oil workers could also whip up a critical mass of dissent in their communities. The oil workers' popular support crosses sectarian lines.
Kurdish and central government negotiators reached a deal last month on the framework for a law governing Iraq's oil. Details on ownership rights and revenue sharing are still far from finalized. The Iraq National Oil Co. would restart but compete with foreign oil companies, who could win contracts giving them partial ownership of the respective fields. INOC "should have full privileges," Awad said, "and we don't agree on the production partnership."
Iraq's oil has been nationalized for four decades. Iraqis view it with a pride of ownership, something the law would reduce if the contract language allowing for foreign ownership stands. The unions were kept in the dark, as were most members of Iraq's parliament, until the draft law was leaked to the media. Even then it was still out the reach of most of Iraq's citizens.
Oil unions led large strikes in the 1940s and 1950s. In the past four years, Iraqi oil workers stopped work when they weren't being paid or when a foreign subcontractor was hired to replace them. They only threatened to strike after the Coalition Provisional Authority ordered wages decreased. The Iraq Oil Ministry balked. This prompted other unions, like dock workers in Umm Qasr and Zubair, to edge out foreign corporations given contracts.
The IFOU could shut down Iraq's production if the draft hydrocarbons law stands. With oil revenue funding 93 percent of the federal budget, that's a large bargaining chip. Oil workers could also whip up a critical mass of dissent in their communities. The oil workers' popular support crosses sectarian lines.
Labels: draft oil law, Hassan Jumaa Awad, IFOU, Iraq National Oil Co., Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions
