While I have had my doubts about the Bush's drive for democracy in the Middle East, there is a ray of hope that show it may be working. Here is a news report showing that some Iraqi's are supportive of democracy and are organizing to protect their country.
Of course their democratic right to organize and help create some stability in the nascent Iraqi democracy undermines the authoritarian rule by the transitional government. Hence, they have frozen the Union's bank account.
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Although things look bad for Democracy in Iraq, things aren't much better here in the US. The Bush lead National Labor Relations Board is poised to implement a 5-4 Supreme Court decision known as Kentucky River that will eliminate the right to organize from 8 million employees. Despite the Democrats' historical support of labor and middle-class workers, no Democrat leaders has expressed an opinion on this further erosion of American's right to join together for mutual benefit. With the right to join together comes the right to challenge offshoring practices, wage and benefit cuts, and pension underfunding.
The Democrats had launched a bill known as the Employee Free Choice Act which gained bipartisan support, but has lately been orphaned by the Democratic leadership because of lack of interest by Americans to protect their constitutional rights.
If you feel that retaining our democratic right to organize is important, please let your representative know. This issue is underplayed in the press and by our Congress, so it is up to individuals to pass the word.
Please support the bipartisan Employee Free Choice Act!
Protest Kentucky River decision at NLRB
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Iraqi Government Freezes Union Bank Account
PRESS RELEASE from Naftana - UK Support Committee for the General Union of Oil Employees Iraq
Tuesday July 20th 2006
OIL UNION BANK ACCOUNT FROZEN
IRAQI GOVERNMENT ATTACKS OPPONENTS OF OIL PRIVATISATION
We have just confirmed reports that the Iraqi regime has frozen all the bank accounts of the Iraqi oil workers' union, both abroad and with in Iraq. Wave of anti-union activity by government The Iraqi regime's decision comes in the wake of a series of anti-union measures, including the disbanding of the council of the lawyers' union, freezing the writers' union accounts and the September 2005 decree making all trade union activity illegal.
For that anti-union act the regime used the pretext of promising the promulgation of a future law to 'regulate' trade union organisations and their activities.This action follows in the footsteps of US administrator Paul Bremer In 2004 Paul Bremer, the occupation's then pro-consul in Iraq, declared trade union activity in the state sector illegal.
http://www.basraoilunion.org/...