Same as It Ever Was

June 2, 2011

Tags: Labor, Oil, Saddam, Union
Posted in: Democracy, Iraq, Other Ideas

The always prescient Iraq Oil Report has come up with yet another reason Iraq is unlikely to become a major oil exporter anytime soon: laws preventing oil workers from organizing have created a situation of work stoppages met with retaliation. This does not promote the extraction of petroleum.

For those who still contend getting rid of the evil dictator made everything happy in Iraq, Iraqi workers in the public sector still are forbidden from forming unions not controlled by the state, a regulation remaining from the Saddam Hussein era. Freedumb!

Iraq is a signatory to international workers rights agreements, and the 2005 constitution called for a new labor law that lies dormant in the moribund political process. Oil workers went out and formed unions anyway. The oil unions have stopped production here and there and have held rallies over pay and treatment. In response, they have been targeted by security forces and members have had warrants issued for their arrest or been relocated to areas away from their families.

This new birth of freedom in Iraq clearly justifies the sacrifices Americans have made, right? Makes you kinda wish we did get some oil for blood.

For more, see Twelve Reasons Iraq will not be a Major Oil Exporter.

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