Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Iraq (Ratification: 2018)

The Committee takes note of the Government’s first report. It observes however that the report does not provide full particulars concerning the information requested in the report form. The Committee thus requests the Government to submit a detailed report, including information on all the items set out on the report form (such as on how each relevant provision of the Convention is given effect by identified aspects of national law and practice), as well as a copy of the latest version of the Trade Union Organizations for Workers and Employees Bill (or Act if already adopted), and recalls that it may avail itself of the ILO’s technical assistance in this regard.

The Committee also notes the observations submitted by the General Federation of Iraqi Trade Unions (GFITU), received on 28 August 2019 and on 20 October 2020, as well as the joint observations of the GFITU; the Conference of Iraq Federations and Workers Unions (CIFWU); the Federation of Independent Trade and Professional Unions in Iraq (FITPUI); the Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI); the General Federation of Trade Unions and Employees of Iraq (GFTUEI); the General Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Iraq (GFTURI); the General Federation of Workers Unions in Iraq (GFWUI); the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU); and the Union of Technical Engineering Professionals (UTEP), received on 17 September 2020. These observations allege that the pre-existing Law No. 52 of 1987 contravenes the Convention and is still in force, and that the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs interferes in trade union affairs and only deals with the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) as the official representative union in tripartite bodies (the GFITU refers to a Circular of the Ministry showing its bias towards the official governmental federation and threatening legal measures to those contravening it), thus marginalizing and excluding from social dialogue other trade union federations. The Committee further notes the response received from the Government, stating that the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs supports freedom of association and treats equally all unions, and that a Trade Union Organizations for Workers and Employees Bill was drafted by six federations in coordination with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and is currently being discussed in the State Council. Recalling that for many years, in its comments under the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), the Committee has been stressing the need to remove any obstacles to trade union pluralism, the Committee reiterates its previous requests to repeal any legislative imposition of trade union monopoly and encourages the Government to continue to engage with all representative trade union federations, so as to ensure full respect for the guarantees set out in the Convention and, to this end, advance in the finalization and adoption of a Trade Union Organizations for Workers and Employees Act.

The Committee further notes the observations of the GFITU received on 25 December 2020, which denounce the closure of one of its branches; and those received on 20 January 2021, which denounce an Instruction dated 7 January 2021 of the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, providing that, pursuant to the legal provisions in force, it is not permissible to practice any trade union activity within the units affiliated to this Ministry and its departments. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in this respect, and to take any measures to ensure that the workers of the Ministry of Industry and Minerals may exercise the trade union rights enshrined in the Convention.

[The Government is asked to send a detailed report in 2023.]