That this House is concerned that Iraqi Ministers, through Decree 8750 of August 2005, have frozen the monies of unions, including those affiliated to the Iraqi Workers' Federation, leaving organisations which represent up to a million Iraqis and which are the bedrock of a non-sectarian civil society unable to organise and play a positive role both in the workplace and in wider society; fears that some may create sectarian client unions; urges the British Government to continue to make representations to the Iraqi government to lift Decree 8750 and the continuing ban, first introduced in 1987 by Saddam Hussein, on public sector trade union organisation; welcomes the continuing efforts of Labour Friends of Iraq to encourage moral and material solidarity with the new Iraqi labour movement; and backs the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in its efforts to encourage British unions and others to pledge monthly sums to fund Iraqi unions' basic running costs such as printing the Workers' Unity newspaper and to encourage people to send used mobile telephones and chargers to the TUC so that they may be used by Iraqi union organisers.

That this House is concerned that Iraqi Ministers, through Decree 8750 of August 2005, have frozen the monies of unions, including those affiliated to the Iraqi Workers' Federation, leaving organisations which represent up to a million Iraqis and which are the bedrock of a non-sectarian civil society unable to organise...

That this House applauds the recent Labour Friends of Iraq (LFIQ) delegation to Erbil and Sulamaniyah to meet unions, parties, and ministers from Iraqi Kurdistan as well as 22 union leaders from Baghdad, Basra and Babel; is concerned that Iraqi Ministers, through Decree 8750 of August 2005, have frozen the monies of unions including those affiliated to the Iraqi Workers' Federation, leaving organisations which represent up to a million Iraqis and which are the bedrock of a non-sectarian civil society unable to organise and play a positive role in both the workplace and in wider society; fears that some may create sectarian client unions; urges the British Government to make representations to the Iraqi government to lift Decree 8750 and the continuing ban, first introduced in 1987 by Saddam Hussein, on public sector trade union organisation; is concerned that this ban is the basis of hostile actions against the Port Workers' Union in Khour Al-Zubeir; further notes that the LFIQ delegation was told repeatedly by union leaders and others of the potential of private foreign investment in Iraqi Kurdistan, whose Parliament is keen to encourage investment, not least in tourism and mineral extraction; and believes that those concerned for Iraqi democracy should heed the call of the Iraqi unions for urgent assistance to retrieve their independence and to increase their power as a social partner in reconstructing Iraq, which has long been isolated from modern thinking and must contend with the enormous physical and psychological legacy of dictatorship, sanctions and war.

That this House applauds the recent Labour Friends of Iraq (LFIQ) delegation to Erbil and Sulamaniyah to meet unions, parties, and ministers from Iraqi Kurdistan as well as 22 union leaders from Baghdad, Basra and Babel; is concerned that Iraqi Ministers, through Decree 8750 of August 2005, have frozen the...

That this House congratulates Harry Barnes, the hon. Member for North East Derbyshire from 1987 to 2005, on being granted honorary membership of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions, the main new Iraqi trade union centre formed after the fall of Saddam Hussein; notes that honorary membership was conferred on Mr Barnes at a summit meeting between the Iraqi trade union movement and a delegation organised by Labour Friends of Iraq in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan in early April; and believes that the conferral of honorary membership is a fitting tribute to a man who first experienced Iraq in the mid-50s when he did his national service in that country, who consistently opposed the invasion of Iraq and then united with those who took different views to promote the interests of the free Iraqi trade union movement and wider civil society as a joint President of Labour Friends of Iraq.

That this House congratulates Harry Barnes, the hon. Member for North East Derbyshire from 1987 to 2005, on being granted honorary membership of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions, the main new Iraqi trade union centre formed after the fall of Saddam Hussein; notes that honorary membership was conferred on...

That this House supports the independent and democratic Iraqi trade union movement, mainly centred around the newly merged Iraqi Workers' Federation (IWF) and the Kurdish trade unions, which play an important role in the re-building of Iraq's devastated national economy and consolidating the current political process in order to create a democratic, united and federal state after years of repression and hardship at the hands of the deposed dictatorship of Saddam Hussein; is, therefore, deeply disturbed that on 8th August 2005 the Iraqi Council of Ministers issued decree 8750 which declared that union finances would be taken over by the government and that a new law on trade unionism would be developed by the government, without mentioning freedom of association, which is a basic human right and one of the fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), or the involvement of the Iraqi trade union movement; is further disturbed at recent reports that the Iraqi government has replaced the leadership of the independent engineers' union with its own appointeees in a prima facie breach of freedom of association; welcomes the decision of Iraqi professional organisations to create jointly with the IWF an umbrella organisation to oppose decree 8750; congratulates the TUC for initiating global protests against decree 8750 and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions for supporting the IWF's complaint formally requesting that the ILO intervene directly with the Iraqi government; and supports the IWF and others in all available democratic means to stop this undemocratic practice against Iraqi workers.

That this House supports the independent and democratic Iraqi trade union movement, mainly centred around the newly merged Iraqi Workers' Federation (IWF) and the Kurdish trade unions, which play an important role in the re-building of Iraq's devastated national economy and consolidating the current political process in order to create...

That this House supports the Labour Friends of Iraq global appeal, which has been supported by numerous rank and file trade unionists and others across the world, to publicise the severe threat to the life of Nozad Ismail, the President of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions in Kirkuk, who has twice escaped assassins and who receives regular death threats; believes that the self-styled resistance in Iraq is deliberately targeting the leadership of the Iraqi labour movement and, therefore, the prospects for a united, secular and democratic Iraq, as was exemplified when Hadi Saleh, the International Secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) was tortured and strangled before his house was ransacked for his comrades' contact details, when Ali Hassan Abd, of the IFTU's Oil and Gas Union, was gunned down in front of his children, and when Ahmed Adris Abbas of the Transport and Communication Workers Union was assassinated in Baghdad; and appeals for the widest possible support for this initiative not only from supporters of the British Labour movement but from anyone with an interest in nurturing Iraqi democracy.

That this House supports the Labour Friends of Iraq global appeal, which has been supported by numerous rank and file trade unionists and others across the world, to publicise the severe threat to the life of Nozad Ismail, the President of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions in Kirkuk, who...

That this House condemns the recent brutal torture and murder of Hadi Saleh, International Secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), by Saddam loyalists in what is termed the Iraqi resistance; further condemns the torture and murder of four IFTU members when their train was attached by mortar fire between Mosul and Baghdad, the kidnap of two train drivers, Salah Mehdi Taher and Salih Chiyehchan Harbi and the severe beating of five rail workers, Abd' al-Emir Abd'al-Malik, Mustapha Kamel Mehdi, Amer Shamaan Amer, Ali Abd' al-Radh and Basil Abd'Ouwd, who have been left in a life-threatening condition, the mortar and rocket-propelled grenade attack on the headquarters of the Transport and Communication Workers' Union, and two failed assassination attempts on Nozad Ismail, the President of the IFTU in Kirkuk; expresses its support and admiration for the rail workers of Basra, members of the IFTU, who condemn the 'criminals, terrorists and brigands' who are murdering trade unionists in Iraq and who have been taking strike action against the terrorists since the beginning of the year, demanding adequate security protection on all land transport and the safe return of their kidnapped colleagues; and pledges full support to the TUC Aid Iraq Appeal raising money for Iraqi trade unionists to rebuild a free and independent trade union movement, and strengthen civil society in Iraq.

That this House condemns the recent brutal torture and murder of Hadi Saleh, International Secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), by Saddam loyalists in what is termed the Iraqi resistance; further condemns the torture and murder of four IFTU members when their train was attached by mortar...

That this House notes that free trade unionism is a key ingredient of a move from totalitarianism to democracy; welcomes the renewal of free trade unionism in Iraq; and calls on the Government to give assistance and priority to the strengthening of this movement.

That this House notes that free trade unionism is a key ingredient of a move from totalitarianism to democracy; welcomes the renewal of free trade unionism in Iraq; and calls on the Government to give assistance and priority to the strengthening of this movement.

That this House welcomes the recent re-establishment of the Workers' Democratic Trade Union Movement as an independent trade union umbrella body in Iraq, supported by the ICFTU; and calls on the Government to provide promptly disinterested financial support to the WDTUM to assist it to help set up, and foster the growth of, independent trade unions in Iraq, of which eight have been formed since the fall of the Saddam Hussein's government as a vital pillar of civil society in Iraq.

That this House welcomes the recent re-establishment of the Workers' Democratic Trade Union Movement as an independent trade union umbrella body in Iraq, supported by the ICFTU; and calls on the Government to provide promptly disinterested financial support to the WDTUM to assist it to help set up, and foster...