The General Union of Oil Employees (Basra)

Faced with daily reports of car bombs and kidnappings, of military counter-offensives, and of bloodshed, it’s difficult to feel optimistic about Iraq.

But there is another story, of the rebirth of a civil society bravely determined to struggle for democracy, for an end to the occupation and for Iraq's future. One of the most impressive such organisations is the General Union of Oil Employees, a democratically-organised trade union of 23,000 members, representing more than half of the oilworkers in the key southern provinces of Basra, Maysan, Dhi Qar and Muthanna.

Established after the fall of Saddam's regime, the GUOE has been highly effective in building its base, and in fighting for the rights of its members. But it's goals are more ambitious: to stop the sell-off of Iraq's oil.

PLATFORM was one of the founders of Naftana, the UK solidarity committee for the GUOE.

Link: Go to the website of the General Union of Oil Employees

PLATFORM's articles about the GUOE:

July 2005: Iraq's untold story
Report on PLATFORM's trip to Iraq. Published in Carbon Web newsletter
June 2005: Iraq's other resistance - Oil workers in Basra are ready to fight privatisation
Published in the Guardian
April 2005: Resisting the economic war in Iraq
Interview with Hassan Juma'a Awad, head of the GUOE. Published in Corporate Watch

Iraq - النفط في العراق