Majeed Rashid Feza Al-Husseiny explains the struggles of the Iraqi trade union movement to develop a national and Arab regional presence

In Iraq we continue to suffer, as everyone knows, from the deteriorating security conditions in our country. We go out in the morning, but we don’t know if we are coming back in the evening. We may get killed by a car bomb, a shot from a sniper, or by any other terrorist act.

We are determined to become a powerful union, but this can happen only when we put an end to fear and terrorism. At the same time, we still suffer in our country from class discrimination, and union ignorance, despite our great culture and civilisation. This ignorance can be attributed to political conflicts and sectarian and factional trends, which intervene directly or indirectly in the union’s activities.

In Iraq, we have more than half a million truck drivers. Around 100,000 of them are working now, while the rest are jobless. Most of those who work now drive small cars (taxis), while only around 10,000 drive their own trucks. We have around 30,000 transport workers employed in the state sector. But, only 10,000 are union members and many of these are not fully mobilised. We look forward to gaining more members and to achieving more openness in our union activities.

But these are not the only challenges we face. Administrative and financial corruption prevail among government officials and this affects the transport sector. No less important, is the weak co-ordination between the Iraqi transport companies and other transport companies in the region.

Addressing basic needs
We must not forget that the rights of transport workers have been lost and it will take time for their basic demands to be met. Currently transport workers do not benefit from health or accident insurance, food or overtime allowances or social security, and there are no rest or other truck stops on the big roads.

Moreover, truck drivers encounter many border problems imposed knowingly or unknowingly by governments. These include delays at the border check points, especially at the Iraqi borders due to difficult security conditions, and the imposition of unjustified penalties and fees on truck drivers coming from Iraq, especially from the Jordanian authorities. Truck drivers are not provided with one ID that is recognised by all governments in the region.

During our workshop in Amman, Jordan in November 2005, Arab unions agreed to set up a network to enhance our cooperation with one another. This network will revolve around collaborative work and discussion. It is hoped that together we will be able to provide educational and instructional courses for workers in the region.

Certainly we will hope to bring all union headquarters in the region into an email and other communications network, so that we can share innovations and developments in the efforts of our unions.

We will use the network as a platform to denounce terrorist acts, in collaboration with international unions. And we shall be drawing up a unified Arab charter of union, humanitarian and social rights. This will be circulated to all governments in the region, in order to protect the rights of workers to live and work in freedom and safety.

We hope to increase the attendance of participants from the region in conferences and symposiums at the regional, international and domestic level, in order to help us to enhance and develop our union work. We shall be approaching international bodies for financial assistance with our union building work.

Majeed Rashid Feza Al-Husseiny is general secretary of the General Commission of Transport Workers in Iraq.