Hassan Jumaa Awad, President of the General Union of Oil Employees in Basra and General Secretary of the Southern Oil Company is visiting the UK for two weeks from February 5th - 19th

He will be meeting with trade union general secretaries and activists and speaking at public meetings in both in England and Scotland in order to raise awareness of GUOEB and SOCU’s achievements. He will also be attending the TUC’s Iraqi Trade Union Solidarity conference on Monday February 14th

In particular, the Union is proud of its autonomous reconstruction efforts which have spanned every location in the Southern Oil Company, Iraq’s largest company. These locations include the Khor Al Omayeh off shore terminal, the Lehees Crude oil Pumping Station, North Rumeilla crude oil pumping station, drilling and gas company, and Majnoon. Workers declared the SOC a no-go zone for all Kellogg Brown and Root employees last autumn. The company’s presence has since been ‘limited’ by the Union to ensure maximum control over the company’s reconstruction process.

Southern Oil Company workers also shut down exports during the siege and attack on Najaf, in solidarity with the holy city’s inhabitants. GUOEB fully supported this strike.

The Southern Oil Company trade union, part of GUOEB also drew up its’ own wage-table in response to the Occupation’s wage-table as defined in Order Number 30, passed September 2003. Workers threatened to ‘shut down Iraq from North to South’ and go on armed strike if their table was not accepted. The Union succeeded in raising the wages of oil workers in the South from 69, 000 ID per month to 102, 000 ID per month.

Jumaa states ‘The trade unions in the Southern oil company are in a very difficult situation and we are asking all international trade unions to help and to co-operate with us, as we are a free trade union, which does not belong to any political party and we are an independent trade union’.

SOC workers and the Union leadership have repeatedly stated their opposition to the occupation and privatization in the oil sector.

For more details/interview arrangements please contact:

Ewa Jasiewicz, Iraq Occupation Focus 07749 421 576
freelance@mailworks.org
www.iraqoccupationfocus.org.uk

Notes:

1) The General Union of Oil Employees in Basra was formed in July 2004 and represents around 30, 000 workers in 10 unions and 30 committees in Nassiriyah, Amara, Maysan, Thi Qar and Basra from the following companies: Southern oil company, Southern gas company, Southern refinery company, Iraqi excavation company, The Oil carrier company, The Gas packing company, The oil production company, The oil projects company, and The oil pipe lines company.

2)Hassan Juma’a will be speaking at the Iraq Occupation Focus monthly meeting on Tuesday February 8th at University London Union, Room 3E, Malet Street, WC1 7.30pm and at the annual Stop the War Coalition conference on Saturday February 12th