Freedom to Form a Union Under Attack

Increasingly the right to join a union is under attack at home and abroad. While much is done in the name of democracy, many world leaders have forgotten that a basic, democratic right is freedom of association – in other words the right to join a union. In the U. S., the “Employee Free Choice Act” is intended to restore that right to all workers, including an estimated 40 million workers who say they would join a union, but fear being fired or other acts of intimidation. The “Employee Free Choice Act” would allow:

• Certification based on signed authorization cards;
• First contract mediation and arbitration; and
• Stronger penalties for employers who interfere with employees’ attempts to organize or obtain a first contract.

Despite the problems workers face in the U.S., they pale in comparison to those faced by union organizers and workers in other countries.

Iraqi Labor Movement Still at Risk

Even after the fall of Saddam Hussein, assassinations, brutal beatings, and kidnappings continue to take a heavy toll on the Iraqi labor movement. On January 4, 2005, Hadi Saleh, International Secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), an organization that represents more than 200,000 Iraqi workers, and an eloquent voice for workers’ rights and outspoken opponent of terrorism, woke to the sound of intruders in his home in Baghdad. He was bound, blindfolded, beaten, and strangled to death with electrical wire. Afterward, his murderers senselessly sprayed his lifeless body with bullets. Saleh, 55, was one of Iraq’s most prominent trade unionists.
When the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, Saleh was convinced that Hussein’s fall would bring better opportunities for Iraqi workers. Sadly, this has not been the case. Saleh’s death is one of many brutal attacks in recent months.

Another official, Talib Khadim Al Tayee, President of the Iraqi Mechanics’, Metalworkers’ & Printworkers’ Union, was meeting with workers on January 27, 2005, when he was attacked and kidnapped by gunmen. Following a global trade union campaign to secure his return, Talib Kahdim was released in Baghdad on February 1st. In November and December of last year alone, it was reported that four railroad workers were killed, two train drivers were kidnapped, and five other workers beaten.

David Bacon, an independent union writer and photographer working for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union who traveled to Iraq in 2003, has been critical of the U.S. government’s reaction to the plight of Iraqi workers, noting that a 1987 law enacted by Saddam’s regime, which reclassified most workers as civil servants and prohibited them from forming unions, has yet to be repealed.

BAC President John J. Flynn joins the international labor community
in urging the Bush Administration to recognize that “a strong trade union movement is one of the basic building blocks of democracy.”

Information for this article was obtained through the International Labor Communication Association’s (ILCA) website www.ilcaonline.org and posted articles by David Bacon, Doug Ireland (ILCA Associate Member), and Sarah E. Massey (AFL-CIO Media Outreach). David Bacon was honored last year by the ILCA for his work on the plight of Iraqi workers.

Teamster Murdered in El Salvador

Last November, Jose Gilberto Soto, a Teamster Port Division Representative in New Jersey, was assassinated while visiting Usulutan, El Salvador where he was to meet with trade union leaders and port container truck drivers to discuss organizing in Central America. Soto’s organizing activities in El Salvador involved working with unions from Sweden and elsewhere to identify the systematic violations of worker rights by Maersk, one of the world’s largest shipping companies, according to one Teamster Local.

Salvadoran-born Soto was visiting his mother’s home when he was shot in the back. Soto’s mother-in-law was accused of hiring two men to carry out the killing, her alleged motive being to profit from Soto’s “two million dollar Teamster life insurance policy.” Within days, the Teamsters released documents denying the existence of any such policy. Soto’s family rejects these allegations. They believe the true motive for the attack was Soto’s union activism and have charged the Salvadoran police with negligence in handling the investigation.
The AFL-CIO and Teamsters have made repeated requests to the State Department and government of El Salvador for a thorough investigation of whether Soto’s union activities were the motive for his attack. They have also asked the Institute of Human Rights at the Jesuit Central American University in San Salvador to conduct an independent investigation.

A memorial fund has been established for the family of Jose Gilberto Soto, who leaves behind his wife, Alva “Maritza,” and three children. Donations may be made to Gilberto Soto Memorial Fund, Wachovia Bank, 358 Market Street, Saddle Brook, NJ 07662, Account No. 1010110478249.