US Labor Against the War, a network of more than 140 unions, labor councils, state federations, and other labor organizations with millions of members, hosted six leaders of the Iraqi trade union movement on a 20-city U.S. solidarity tour in summer 2005. USLAW has established an Iraqi Labor Solidarity Fund to help the workers "defend themselves against the invasion of U.S. and other multinational corporations like Bechtel, Halliburton, and Stevedoring Services of America the same anti-union companies we face at home." USLAW states: "The U.S. and the government it created can not claim to be for democracy while attempting to strangle Iraq's labor movement." USLAW has asked labor and social justice activists across the United States to protest the interference with unions that are fighting to defend the interests of Iraq's society.
Remember the tale of David and Goliath? People from many nations are telling their leaders they will not stand by and let an entire country be sacrificed to corruption and aggression. We can hope and work for an outcome in Iraq that favors union workers who struggle valiantly, like David, and hope that they are successful in felling the Giant oil industry, huge in stature like Goliath, but blinded by greed. We know how the story ends.
Recommended reading: A sampling of Iraq labor groups and those working in solidarity:
Report: "Crude Designs: The Rip-Off of Iraq's Oil Wealth," by Greg Muttitt, Platform with Global Policy Forum, Institute for Policy Studies (New Internationalism Project) New Economics Foundation, Oil Change International, and War on Want
Kathlyn Stone is a Minnesota-based writer covering science and medicine, health care and related policies. She publishes www.fleshandstone.net, a health and science news site.
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