By Sadaf Siddique

Guns and bombs aren't the only tools that Iraqis are using to resist the US occupation. They're also using labor unions and a belief that the Iraqi people own their natural resources.

That was the message sounded by Hassan Juma'a Awad and Faleh Abbood Umara of the General Union of Oil Employees, who spoke June 19 at St. Joseph the Worker Church, in Berkeley. The GUOE – with 23,000 members, the strongest independent and secular union in Iraq – has boldly resisted the privatization and foreign control of Iraq's oil sector. The event was part of a US tour by Iraqi labor leaders sponsored by US Labor Against the War.

Awad, president of the GUOE in Basra, began with a demand that President George W. Bush "leave our country alone." He noted that when the coalition forces invaded Iraq, they allowed hospitals, universities, and factories to be destroyed while they protected the oil fields and refineries.

"This," he said, "was the corporate invasion of Iraq."

Furthermore, American companies brought in 1,200 foreign workers, despite the abundance of Iraqi workers. He said Iraqis are the best people to rebuild their nation, and the best proof of this is that the workers in Iraq's southern oil fields formed a union just 11 days after the fall of Baghdad, in April 2003, in order to maintain production and keep foreign control at bay.

Maintaining union solidarity has been difficult and important. The Coalition Provisional Authority upheld Saddam Hussein's 1987 decision to transform all union workers into salaried employees, thus refusing to grant the workers collective bargaining rights. As the costs of food and other essentials soared after the invasion, Awad criticized CPA head Paul Bremer's wage schedule, which paid Iraqi workers $35 a month while paying up to $1,000 a day to foreign workers.

"When we tried to protest to the oil ministry, the media labeled us as terrorists," said Umara, the GUOE's general secretary. "We were surrounded by military tanks but managed to negotiate and secure a wage increase for our workers."

The GUOE has been able to stand its ground against Kellogg, Brown, and Root (a subsidiary of Halliburton), which tried to take over their workplace. "After four days of negotiations, we stopped exporting our oil and forced KBR to leave Iraq," Umara said. Similarly, the GUOE supported the port workers' strike against shipping company Maersk. After trying to negotiate with the company for four days, they forced Maersk out by the fifth day.

Umara reiterated that "oil was the main reason for the war against Iraq. Saddam was an employee of the White House, but it was time to remove him."

Awad demonstrated a detailed understanding of American capitalism as he emphasized the threat of corporate monopoly to the privatization of basic services in Iraq, noting, "We don't see any place in the world where privatization has benefited the people." He acknowledged that the fight against privatization is complicated, and urged American unions to take a strong stand against the war.

Awad called on those in the audience to extend their support and solidarity to trade unions in Iraq and to pressure members of Congress to end the occupation. He reminded the audience that while Iraqis wish to live in a democratic Iraq free of occupation and terrorism, "Iraqi people have the right to self-determination, and no one can speak on our behalf."

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