Letter-Writing Page

Defend Iraqi Workers' Rights

A joint campaign of
U.S. Labor Against the War, Progressive Portal, Progressive Secretary, EPIC, and others.

Since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, workers there have faced intolerable conditions: massive unemployment, grossly inadequate compensation in the few jobs that can be found, and harassment of organized labor by the occupying forces. The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) has arrested labor leaders repeatedly and ransacked union offices -- and, unbelievably, is enforcing Saddam Hussein's anti-union laws.
Twenty-five members of Congress, led by Rep. Sam Farr (CA), have signed a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and CPA Administrator Paul Bremer calling on the CPA to provide jobs or income to Iraqi workers, pay a living wage, and allow Iraqi workers to exercise internationally recognized labor rights.
Urge your Representative to endorse the concerns raised in the letter by sending the message below.

To date: This letter, 1,089 sent; all ProgressivePortal letters, 3,052,273 sent

Fill out (or update) your personal information, then review the letter below. We encourage you to re-write it in your own words, especially the first paragraph.

Your Title: First Name: Last Name: Address: City: State: ZIP+4: - USA A USA address is needed to select the Congressmember to receive your letter. Email: Phone: () - Email must be in valid email format (aaa@bbb.ccc). Some Congressmembers ask for your phone number.

Subject (please enter):
Dear Rep. [name will be inserted automatically]:

Democracy in Iraq includes getting the laborers of Iraq into jobs under good conditions. I urge you to join with 25 Congressional Representatives who have placed their names on a letter, initiated by Representative Farr of California, and addressed to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, U.S. administrator in Iraq, demanding decent employment, a livable wage, and basic labor rights for the workers of Iraq.
Conditions for the labor force in Iraq these days are insufferable. More than sixty percent of the working-age population in Iraq is unemployed, with no system whatsoever of unemployment compensation benefits and no income support for people to survive on until jobs become available. Of the $87 billion that Congress recently approved for the occupation and reconstruction of Iraq, nothing was allocated either to restore the wages and benefits of Iraqi workers or to provide a stipend for those who are unemployed.
The announced plan of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to privatize hundreds of state-owned enterprises will cause thousands more to lose their jobs and add to the misery of Iraqi families.
The majority of those who are employed earn only $60 a month. While this is the same as under the Saddam Hussein government, it is absent the bonuses, profit sharing and subsidies for food and housing that formerly supplemented low wages and made it possible for Iraqi workers to maintain a nominal standard of living.
The Congressional letter to Sec. Rumsfeld and Mr. Bremer calls on the Coalition Provisional Authority to provide jobs or income to Iraqi workers, to pay a living wage, and to allow Iraqi workers to exercise internationally recognized labor rights - the right to organize independent unions of their own choosing and to bargain collectively, free from interference and repression. The letter asks Rumsfeld and Bremer to provide a detailed plan and timeline for meeting these goals.
Democracy cannot be established, anywhere, until working people enjoy basic rights and decent income. The letter is worthy of your name.

Click only once -- may take up to a minute:

ProgressivePortal.org and U.S. Labor Against the War will send you occasional messages
unless you un-check the appropriate box(es).