INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE OCCUPATION

AND FOR LABOUR RIGHTS IN IRAQ

SPONSORED BY TORBAY & DISTRICT TRADES UNION COUNCIL

CLRI, PO Box 394, Torquay, Devon TQ1 3ZR

email: [email protected]

Dear Friends,

One of the two main aims of the International Campaign Against the

Occupation and For Labour Rights in Iraq, working closely with the Iraqi

trade unions that are organising in the country, is to ensure that the two

ILO Conventions which guarantee the right to set up trade unions and to

negotiate freely are applied in Iraq, where despite the situation familiar

to us through news reports, thousands of workers have set up trade unions.

You will find attached the complaint which the Federation of Workers'

Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) and the Union of the Unemployed in Iraq

(UUI) have decided to lodge with the ILO Committee on Trade Union Freedoms.

This document is being offered for endorsement by all trade unionists and

all those who are fighting against the occupation and for Iraqi sovereignty.

This is why I am asking for your endorsement.

Also attached for your endorsement is an international appeal by US and

Spanish trade unionists calling for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign

occupation troops from Iraq and for peace and sovereignty for Iraq. This

appeal is also being circulated by the International Campaign Against the

Occupation and For Labour Rights in Iraq, as an expression of the other of

the Campaign's two central aims.

Finally, on 13 June an International Conference of trade unionists will be

held in Geneva in support of the immediate application of ILO Conventions 87

and 98 in Iraq.

Representatives from the two Iraqi trade unions that are lodging the

complaint, who will be visiting the ILO to do so, have been invited to take

part in this conference together with the organisations which jointly

initiated the International Campaign: the International Confederation of

Arab Trade Unions, the coalition of American trade unionists US Labor

Against The War, and the International Liaison Committee of Workers and

Peoples.

You will no doubt understand that enormous effort and cost has gone into the

Iraqi trade unionists' trip to Geneva and participation in the International

Conference. Although the conference delegate's fee has been set at a level

designed to offset (on a pooled basis) at least some of their total costs,

they still need our financial assistance.

For this reason, I would ask you to make a donation, however modest, which

will be passed on directly to the Conference organisers. Every donor will

receive a receipt signed by the Iraqi trade unionists.

Please use the return slip at the end of this message, and make out your

cheque to "CLRI" or "Campaign for Labour Rights in Iraq", and send it to the

address indicated.

Thank you in advance.

Yours fraternally

Charlie Charalambous

Vice President, Torbay & District Trades Union Council

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RETURN SLIP - Please return endorsements to [email protected]

or endorsements plus donations to CLRI, PO Box 394, Torquay, Devon TQ1 3ZR

I endorse the international appeal "Withdraw All Foreign Occupation Troops

From Iraq!"

In a personal capacity / On behalf of my organisation

Name:

Union/Organisation:

Address to which receipt should be sent:

I enclose a cheque (made out to CLRI) for £...... as a contribution to help

defray the travel of the Iraqi trade union delegation to the June 11th

meeting in Geneva in defence of the ILO conventions.