The Iraqi government, with very strong US backing, is trying to change the national oil laws. The Iraqi Parliament is 'discussing' the law now, and is trying to pass it.
Currently, the oil infrastructure in Iraq is controlled by state-owned businesses and the equipment is run by members of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions. The new law would transfer the day-to-day operations to multi-national oil companies.
Those companies would, of course, bring in their own workers.
So, the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions is voicing it's displeasure about the new law.
More after the fold
Before I begin the body of this diary, I'd like to point out this link. That page has a nice list of articles about the Oil of Iraq. Please use that page as, if you need any back grounding on this issue.
Now...
The Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions is very powerful.
The IFOU represents more than 26,000 workers organized under various unions in the oil-rich southern and northern areas of Iraq. Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, together they've operated Iraq's oil sector before, during and after Saddam Hussein. Their rights to officially unionize are still denied under a 1978 Saddam law, one of a few of the former president's laws the U.S. occupation and the Iraqi Parliament upheld.
It can, and has in the past, shut down the oil pipelines and the oil terminals.
Oil unions led large strikes in the 1940s and 1950s. In the past four years, Iraqi oil workers stopped work when they weren't being paid or when a foreign subcontractor was hired to replace them. They only threatened to strike after the Coalition Provisional Authority ordered wages decreased. The Iraq Oil Ministry balked. This prompted other unions, like dock workers in Umm Qasr and Zubair, to edge out foreign corporations given contracts.
The IFOU could shut down Iraq's production if the draft hydrocarbons law stands. With oil revenue funding 93 percent of the federal budget, that's a large bargaining chip.
The members of union maintain the oil infrastructure, they know how it works, where it's weaknesses are, where the strengths are. And, given the fact that just about every article I've read on the oil infrastructure in Iraq, indicates that the pipelines/terminals are jury-rigged/worn out, if you bring in new workers to fix the problems, you have to replace everything. So, if they decide to, say, creatively, 'fix' the system, who knows what might happen...
So, making them happy is something I'd, at least, want to do.
But...Passing that new oil law will reduce the power of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions. And, they are working against the law.
Greg Muttitt of the London-based social and environmental justice group Platform said sectarian conflict seen in Baghdad politics and violence throughout the country was absent from a December meeting of unionists in Amman, Jordan.
"There were Kurds, Sunni Arabs and Shiite Arabs present. The central versus regional issue barely came up," Muttitt said. "Yet all agreed in their strong opposition to privatization and production sharing.
"The central versus regional discussion has been most prominent because the debate so far has only taken place between the political elites, which are sectarianized," he said. "I don't think that's at all representative of how ordinary Iraqis think."
(all the above quotes are from this article: Analysis: Iraq oil union has storied past)
There is also this speech:The speech of the head of the Federation of Oil Unions in Basra to the meeting held to debate the [proposed] oil law and the oil investment laws on Tuesday 6th February 2007.
some selected quotes:
Among the objectives America wishes to achieve from the military occupation of Iraq, all the causes of which we do not want to return to, but simply to emphasize one central objective of the American political leaders who crossed oceans and wasted billions of dollars, that is Iraqi oil. Indeed we in the Federation of Oil Unions consider this the most important reason for this foul war.
The Unions 'demands':
In this regard we would like to clarify the following points:
1—We send a message to all the members of the Iraqi Parliament, when debating the oil and investment laws, to bear the Iraqis in mind, to protect the national wealth, and to look at the neighbouring countries. Have they introduced such laws even when their relations with foreign companies are closer than in Iraq?
2—If those calling for production-sharing agreements insist on acting against the will of Iraqis, we say to them that history will not forgive those who play recklessly with the wealth and destiny of a people and that the curse of heaven and the fury of Iraqis will not leave them.
3—We strongly warn all the foreign companies and foreign capital in the form of American companies against coming into our lands under the guise of production-sharing agreements.
4—Open the way to Iraqis to manage their own oil affairs. They are able to do that; they have the experience in the field and the technical training, have overcome hardships and proven to the world that they can provide the best service to Iraqis in the oil industry. The best proof of that is how after the entry of the occupying forces and the destruction of the infrastructure of the oil sector the engineers, technical staff and workers were able to raise production from zero to 2,100,000 barrels per day without any foreign expertise or foreign capital. Iraqis are capable of further increasing production with their present skills. The Iraqi state needs to consult with those who have overcome the difficulties and to ask their opinion before sinking Iraq into an ocean of dark injustice. Those who spread the word that the oil sector will not improve except with foreign capital and production-sharing are dreaming. They must think again since we know for certain that these plans do not serve the sons and daughters of Iraq.
The members of this union are fighting for their livelihoods. Right now, they are doing it through, legal, non-violent ways. (And, I support that 'legal, non-violent' effort, the new oil law is, in my opinion a mistake.) IF the new oil law are ratified by the Iraqi Parliament... In my opinion, all holds are off.
thank you for reading
jeff