Trade union and human rights organizations: the conditions of workers are difficult, and unemploymen

[size=52]Trade union and human rights organizations: the conditions of workers are difficult, and unemployment is a million-strong phenomenon[/size]

[size=45]Dhi Qar / Hussein Amel[/size]
[size=45]Yesterday, the General Federation of Workers' Trade Unions in Iraq and the Iraqi Observatory for Workers and Employees Rights revealed the size of the challenges facing the Iraqi workforce in light of the Corona pandemic, the spread of unemployment and the weak government interest in the working class, and while they indicated that 84 percent of private sector workers were not included in social security and unemployment It has become a phenomenon of millions, they stressed the need to revive the thousands of factories that were stalled to absorb the army of the unemployed.[/size]
[size=45]What the workers proposed comes in conjunction with the International Labor Day, which the Iraqi working class celebrates annually on the first of May, through which the workers' struggle for their professional rights and restores the traditions of class solidarity among workers in all countries of the world, as the first of May is considered a labor holiday and a public holiday. In 107 countries around the world.[/size]
[size=45]On the first of May and the conditions of the Iraqi working class, the head of the General Federation of Workers' Trade Unions in Iraq, Abdul Karim Abdul Sada Abu Watan, said to (Al-Mada) that “the first of May is an international and national celebration to revive the struggle of the working class for its rights and to embody class solidarity among workers.” "The working class in all countries of the world has celebrated this day since 1890, regardless of its belief, religion, or political affiliations."[/size]
[size=45]Abu Watan added that "the first official celebration in Iraq on this occasion was on the first of May 1959," adding that "Iraqi workers continued to celebrate the first of May annually and from that date until now."[/size]
[size=45]On the current reality of the Iraqi working class, Abu Watan said that “the reality in which the Iraqi worker is living is a difficult one as a result of the deterioration of the political situation based on quotas, the economic crisis and the repercussions of the Corona pandemic.” The Law on Organizing Trade Union for Workers and Employees and so far, the law is based in the House of Representatives and has not been voted on.[/size]
[size=45]The head of the General Federation of Workers Syndicates stressed that “there is a compound injustice against workers, especially after the Corona pandemic, where many workers in the private sector and oil companies have been dismissed from their jobs under various pretexts and made them join the army of the unemployed,” pointing out that “this did not move government agencies that "It was supposed to support their demands and help them regain their rights from employers and companies, or provide them with financial support to compensate them for losing their only source of livelihood."[/size]
[size=45]Abu Watan indicated that “all the countries neighboring Iraq provided aid to workers affected by the Corona pandemic, but this did not happen in Iraq,” indicating that “many private sector workers have disrupted their work and some of them have lost the bulk of their salaries and a large number of them have been discharged from Work The government did not intervene and did not help workers to regain their rights according to the Iraqi Labor Law, which provides for the payment of half the salary of workers who are laid off.[/size]
[size=45]The head of the General Federation of Trade Unions indicated that “successive governments have committed great mistakes against workers, especially after raising the amount collected from workers for the purpose of subscribing to social security from 5 percent to 7 percent under conditions in which workers suffer from a decline in the level of wages and unemployment, which will cause many workers to become reluctant. On the participation in social security and thus the loss of their pension rights, ”indicating that“ the number of private sector workers covered by social security does not exceed 350,000 workers out of 6 million workers, meaning that 84 percent of workers are deprived of social security. ”[/size]
[size=45]Regarding the size of unemployment, the President of the General Federation of Workers Trade Unions said that “unemployment has become a million-dollar phenomenon that includes workers, graduates, and various social strata of professions, craftsmen, the earners and others.” In light of an escalating crisis ».[/size]
[size=45]Regarding his proposals to absorb unemployment, Abu Watan said that “the current governmental treatments for the unemployment problem are timid treatments, and even what was proposed within the terms of the white paper that the current government adopts does not fulfill the purpose and came to fulfill the conditions of the International Monetary Fund,” indicating that “the unemployment problem requires a political and economic will capable of Restoring the status of national industry and restoring respect for the national product.[/size]
[size=45]"The matter calls for restarting thousands of factories and factories that are idle and updating their production lines to be able to absorb more workers and at the same time cover the Iraqi market's need for goods manufactured in Iraq and achieve economic security and limit the import of foreign goods and currency smuggling," the head of the General Federation of Workers Syndicates said.[/size]
[size=45]Pointing out that «the disruption of factories and the failure to protect the national product and the spread of import chaos and security and economic instability led to the disruption of not only the public sector, but even the activity of the private sector, which is moving its activities and funds abroad and thus depriving the country of large financial resources that can contribute to addressing the problem of unemployment ».[/size]
[size=45]For its part, the Iraqi Observatory for Workers 'and Employees' Rights stated in a report on the reality of Iraqi workers for the period from May 1, 2020 to May 1, 2021 that “Over the past year, more than 97 demonstrations and protest stances were recorded due to delayed payment of employees’ salaries, contracts, and a daily procedure in government departments. In all of Iraq, including the Kurdistan region, ”he added,“ 86 demonstrations and other vigils were recorded calling for job opportunities and permanent staffing, and most of them were for holders of higher degrees and engineers. ”[/size]
[size=45]The report that (Al-Mada) followed indicated that "a group of demonstrators were arrested following the protests and that two suicides were recorded in Diyala and Baghdad due to late salaries." Last year, most of the injuries and deaths are not registered with Social Security, and that the aforementioned figures do not include all governorates, due to the lack of official figures or reports in this regard.[/size]
[size=45]The celebration of International Labor Day comes to commemorate the workers' strike that was suppressed by the US police in 1886. On May 1 of the aforementioned year, workers in Chicago organized a strike in which between 350 and 400 thousand workers participated, in which they demanded working hours to be determined under the slogan «eight working hours, Eight hours sleep, eight hours of rest ”, which did not satisfy the authorities and the owners of the laboratories, so the police opened fire on the demonstrators and killed a number of them, then an unknown person threw a grenade in the middle of a police gathering, killing 11 people, including 7 policemen, and many of them were arrested. Labor leaders and 4 of them were sentenced to death, and the others to varying prison terms. The truth about who dropped the bomb was revealed when one of the police officers admitted that the one who threw the bomb was one of the police officers themselves.[/size]
[size=45]In 1889, the president of the Federation of Trade Unions in America wrote to the First Congress of the Second International, held in Paris, calling for uniting workers ’struggle around the world to limit the number of working hours to eight hours per day. The conference decided to respond to this demand by calling for "demonstrations around the world" on the first of May of the following year, 1890, and since that year this day has become a feast for workers around the world.[/size]
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