Whether you belong to a union or not, I think most people in this country agree that a basic principle of democracy is the right to join one if you wish. Which is the all the more reason you should be outraged that the Iraq Oil Ministry has refused to recognize or have any dealings with the Oil Workers Union.
If you think there is no need for these workers to organize, imagine the working conditions they must endure. Do you think either the government or the private sector cares about their safety or well-being? Of course not. In fact, the Oil Ministry is busy drafting the “Hydrocarbon Law,” which will give foreign oil companies huge access to Iraqi oil. The law contains 3 sentences on Oil Revenue Sharing and 33 pages on Privatization. And the Bush-Cheney Administration, with its undeniable ties to the world of private oil money, are pushing this law at the expense of the Iraqi people.
Dennis Kucinich, my candidate for President in 2008, wrote his colleagues recently,
If you think there is no need for these workers to organize, imagine the working conditions they must endure. Do you think either the government or the private sector cares about their safety or well-being? Of course not. In fact, the Oil Ministry is busy drafting the “Hydrocarbon Law,” which will give foreign oil companies huge access to Iraqi oil. The law contains 3 sentences on Oil Revenue Sharing and 33 pages on Privatization. And the Bush-Cheney Administration, with its undeniable ties to the world of private oil money, are pushing this law at the expense of the Iraqi people.
Dennis Kucinich, my candidate for President in 2008, wrote his colleagues recently,
“The law, if passed, is expected to open the country's billions of barrels of proven oil reserves, the world's third largest, to foreign investors....Under the new law, the Iraq National Oil Company would have exclusive control of only about 17 of Iraq's approximately 80 known oil fields.”
According to our Leader/Decider/War President, our troops are in Iraq for the purpose of bringing democracy to that country. Why then are we trying to (a) take their oil and (b) reinstitute policies of Saddam Hussein?
Saddam Hussein outlawed worker organizing in the public sector; subsequent U.S. occupying powers and now the Iraqi government do not recognize the workers' rights to organize.
A nice summary of this situation written earlier this year is Iraq Labor vs. ExxonMobil, BP and Shell at Truthout.org.
photo of an Iraqi oil refinery worker by David Bacon at Oil For Freedom.
Saddam Hussein outlawed worker organizing in the public sector; subsequent U.S. occupying powers and now the Iraqi government do not recognize the workers' rights to organize.
A nice summary of this situation written earlier this year is Iraq Labor vs. ExxonMobil, BP and Shell at Truthout.org.
photo of an Iraqi oil refinery worker by David Bacon at Oil For Freedom.
2 comments:
Here's something that will definitely piss you off. A long time ago I did some research on the oil and what I found was even more awful than I thought. There were plans by ExxonMobil and BP to build a huge pipeline across the Middle East back in March of 2001. The BTC Pipeline is what it's all about.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project, strongly backed by the United States, is designed to bypass Russia and to reduce Western dependence on oil from the Middle East. (July 14, 2006)
Iran, Russia, Turkey, Iraq, Georgia, Armenia... everyone has something to lose in this deal and this is why NO ONE is helping with this BS war in Iraq.
Russia is not supportive of BTC. It sees it as a U.S. plot to gain control over the Caucasus and cut all links between Moscow of the former Soviet states, building an economic infrastructure that would prevent the former Soviet states to ever reunite with Russia. Moscow also views BTC as a way to weaken its position as major supplier of oil to the European markets. In a recent article at Asia Times Online, John Helmer refers to the BTC project as an effort “to redraw the geography of the Caucasus on an anti-Russian map.”
sorry such a long comment... I guess I should just do an update on my blog, huh :)
I'm glad you left a long comment because you have a lot of details that people need to know.
I think a lot of the American public just thinks its jaded, anti-Americans who suspect this war is all about oil. Sounds unpatriotic to say that — but that's the truth, as you have pointed out.
And that is also the reason why diplomacy has not worked in this situation. The diplomats in the other countries involved know very well why the Americans are in Iraq, and it ain't to bring Mom and apple pie!
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