IRAQI TRADE UNIONISTS VISIT

RMTnews :: may 2008 :: www.rmt.org.uk 36 R MT President John Leach and Council of Executives members Alex Gordon and Pat Collins welcomed a delegation of transport trade unions from Iraq to Unity House recently. The Iraqi delegation was visiting the UK at the invitation of the TUC to discuss solidarity between transport workers and the anti-union laws - old and new - that face Iraqi trade unionists trying to reconstruct democratic unions. The TUC and RMT, along with the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), support the abolition of these laws. The delegation explained the colossal challenges Iraqi workers face in trying to rebuild their economy devastated by years of neglect, international sanctions and war. They said international solidarity was crucial in helping Iraqi unions to fight the onslaught of neo-liberal economic forces that seek to subordinate the Iraqi economy without consideration for workers’ rights. The delegation included Turki Lazm Jabber, head of the Iraqi Dockers’ Union in Basra and Hussein Jasim Al-Mohammed, vice president of the Transport and Communication Workers’ Union; and two women Salafa Hammond Mohammed, a member of the Iraqi Railway Workers Union and Zainab Abdulameer Kadhim of the Airline Workers Union. IRAQI TRANSPORT WORKERS The Iraqi transport workers unions were significant in the growth of civil society and secularism in Iraq from the 1940’s onwards and the railway and dockers’ unions founded the Iraqi General Federation of Trade Unions, before it was smashed by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s. Iraqi trade unions were abolished in the public sector by Saddam’s notorious decree 150 in 1987 that banned collective bargaining. In April 2003, the Iraqi transport workers’ unions reconstituted themselves soon after the collapse of Saddam’s dictatorship. The Transport and Communication Workers’ Union head office in central Baghdad became the centre for all Iraqi trade unionist activities for several months, including hosting the first open trade union conference after the war on 16 May 2003. However, the new Iraqi government has obstructed trade union development by issuing anti-unions laws (8750) and Ministry of Transport Order (7642), based on Saddam’s notorious Decree 150. John Leach gave the Iraqis a brief history of the union, its structures and values and explained why democracy is fundamental to the union. John told the delegation that RMT strongly opposes sectarianism of any kind. Alex Gordon took the delegation on a visit to London Transport Museum where RMT’s Transport for London, branch Chair, Joanne Parry and two members took them on a guided tour. Les Roberts, a stalwart of the union for fifty years, died on April 18 aged 84 after a short illness. Les had been active in the NUR and RMT since he joined Deptford branch in 1956. He became both Branch Secretary and Secretary of the NUR’s South East District Council in 1978, and held these posts until his retirement in1988. He was also a station staff rep, first as a local rep at London’s Cannon Street for over 20 years, and then as a second stage rep on British Rail’s Southern Region Sectional Council ‘C’. Les was also a regular at the Passenger Traffic Grades Conference and the Branch Secretaries’ Conference, and on four occasions was an AGM delegate. Les made many good friends in the Union, and he became a close friend of Jimmy Knapp when Jimmy was the Union’s Divisional Organiser for the South East. After he retired, Les continued to be active in the union’s South East Region, going out in recruiting teams and chairing its retired section. He continued to attend union AGMs and Grades conferences, where he raised thousands of pounds for the Orphan Fund by running raffles, and selling Orphan Fund goods. This was just part of the work Les did for charity and voluntary groups. He was General Secretary of the Southern Region Woking Homes, Secretary of the Southern Region First Aid, a member of the St John’s Ambulance Association (the Order of St John), and much more. In 1983 Les was awarded the British Empire Medal (later upgraded to the MBE) for services to trade unions and to the St John’s Ambulance. Les was far more than a meetings man. He organised branch socials, he enjoyed a drink and a song, he relaxed working in his garden, and he was devoted to his family. He will be greatly missed but fondly remembered by all his friends in RMT. Jeff Slee LES ROBERTS IRAQI TRADE UNIONISTS VISIT RMT