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 congratulates the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for its welcome initiative on May Day in requesting that the International Labour Organisation and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions become involved in the creation of democratic trade unions in Iraq; welcomes the decision of the TUC that it will play a full role, as part of the international trade union movement, in assisting with the establishment of trade unions in Iraq that are secular and representative in place of the Ba'athist-controlled Iraqi trade union confederation which was a front for Saddam; further welcomes the decision by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to help fund a fact-finding mission, whilst acknowledging that the work of shaping a democratic Labour movement in Iraq must be in the hands of Iraqi workers themselves with advice and help from multilateral and international trade unions and the International Labour Organisation; and urges the British Government to seek the support of the US Administration and the wider international community for this highly valuable series of initiatives.

That this House congratulates the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for its welcome initiative on May Day in requesting that the International Labour Organisation and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions become involved in the creation of democratic trade unions in Iraq; welcomes the decision of the TUC that it...