conference to discuss the draft labor law within the draft “labor law

The Tammuz Organization for Social Development, in cooperation with the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation, held a closing conference to discuss the draft labor law in Iraq, attended by a crowd of workers, representatives of trade unions, Iraqi federations, civic activists, civil society organizations and a number of media representatives, as well as the participation of MP Yonadam Kanna, Chairman of the Parliamentary Labor and Social Affairs Committee with officials from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

At the beginning of the conference, they discussed the objectives of the conference, which culminated in a series of workshops held by Tammuz Organization in the governorates (Baghdad, Erbil, Anbar, Dhi Qar, Basrah) and then presented the most important recommendations reached with those workshops.

And then, the door was opened for the attendees to make their comments on the recommendations and on the draft law in general, afterwards, the conference ended when the participants praised the role of Tammuz and its efforts to legislate a law guaranteeing justice in workers’ rights.

Final Recommendations for Workshop and Conference:

Chapter One:

Article 1:

Which states: The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs; Second: The Minister: The Minister of Labor and Social Affairs. Should be amended to: First: Ministry: Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Second: Minister: Minister of Labor and Social Affairs.

Seventh: The definition of the employer is inaccurate. And considers it a person, while not talking about the company or project…. Etc.

Nineteenth paragraph: The minimum age for employment is not clearly defined. The article says of the age of 16. While the customary is who completed the age of 16.

Paragraph 20: Definition of the child in this paragraph is incompatible with the prevention of child labor.

Chapter II: Goals and validity.

Article (2) which states: This law aims to protect the rights of workers and employers and to assist workers to find suitable work for them and to assist them in finding the right workers for them, protecting trade union organizations and organizing the work of foreigners wishing to work in the Republic of Iraq and implementing the ratified Arab and international labor agreements Legally), should be amended to: The aim of this law is to protect the rights of workers and employers and to assist workers to find suitable work for them and to assist them in finding suitable workers for the work they will be entrusted with, protecting trade union organizations and organizing the work of foreigners who wish to work in the Republic of Iraq  and the implementation of the provisions of Arab and international labor agreements ratified by law).

Article 3 First: The provisions of this law shall apply to: “(a) Workers contracted with the State and public sectors,” should be amended to: “(A) Contractual workers and employees of the State and public sectors;

Article III: Second;

  A – Not to include the workers of the public sector with provisions of this law.

(B) Not to include members of the employer’s family.

Chapter III:

Article 5, paragraph 5, Equal Remuneration Convention, should be amended to “equal pay in the same work and the same conditions”. The minimum age for employment shall be amended to (minimum age of employment and as provided by law).

Article 6: When privatizing the project: This is contrary to the fact that the law does not cover the public sector.

The fourth chapter:

The vocational training programs are provided to the Employment Office in accordance with the provisions of this law. The Employment Office advises on the types of skills of the training programs and organizes the operation after the training (added at the end) according to pre-prepared studies).

Article (21) of the Labor Organization: A free labor organization with a moral personality representing the interests of the workers, defending their rights, improving their working conditions and representing them before the various bodies.), Should be amended to: The Workers’ Organization is a free labor organization with a moral personality and enjoys financial and administrative independence, representing the interests of the workers, defending their rights, improving their working conditions and representing them before the various bodies.

Chapter V:

Article 24 and 25: On the employment of a foreign worker. We believe that the foreign worker has the right to work as soon as his presence within the country is a legal and legal existence.

Article 26: The employer shall transport the body of the deceased foreign worker. The responsibility lies with the State and international relations through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy or any other body representing the affairs of the country concerned and whose nationality the worker carries.

Repeal Article (29) for being repetitive and Article (26) gives the same meaning.

Chapter 6: Individual Employment Contract.

Article 30 third, the term “non-validity” is given, So that the separation of the worker here is left to the personal assessment of the employer and not for reasons or objective reasons.

Article 35: The employer shall enjoy the following:

C) Making the necessary decisions regarding workers. This paragraph gives the employer the right to impose his decisions not on the course of production or labor, but on the workers. This is a legal enshrinement of violations against workers.

D) Control of workers. This paragraph gives the right to the employer not to control the work of workers or their competence, but to the workers, so “the control of workers” should be amended to “to follow up” the workers through the context of professional work.

E) Observe and record any failure of the workers in their performance of the work. The concept of default here is left to the discretion of the employer and thus enables him to punish workers optionally.

Article 36 First.

The worker shall enjoy the following rights: i. the strike shall be in accordance with this law. The draft law did not clearly define the right to strike.

Article 36 Second:

Amendment of paragraph C – not to disclose any secrets informed by virtue of his work, not to disclose the secrets of the professional knowledge of the work.

(J) Not receiving any person in the workplace. This is a form of restriction on workers. Where the worker can receive a colleague in the queries and get a time off.

(N ) Do not hold meetings within the workplace without the consent of the employer and the relevant trade union body for purely trade union matters. This is a clear restriction on the freedom of assembly, especially for unregulated workers in a union.

  Article 36: Section II. A termination of an employment contract

Paragraph B: The exception of imprisonment for political reasons or trade union activity should be clarified.

Second: The paragraph says: Employer to terminate the employment contract in one of the following cases:

Paragraph A – does not include reference to health insurance and State liability.

Paragraph B – same observation.

Paragraph D – Paragraph “If necessary”. We believe that unemployment insurance must be secured.

C) If it does not show acceptable efficiency. This text leaves an estimate of self-efficacy acceptance of the employer.

Paragraph F _ Unclear and ambiguous.

Article 38:

The article says that “the employer must warn the worker to terminate the contract and in case of non-warning, he will be compensated instead of this warning.” This text gives the employer the right to dismiss the worker without notice or warning which means giving him the absolute power to control his fate in return for not being protected legally.

Chapter VII: Wages

Chapter VIII: Working time

 Definition of working time: “The time at which the worker is at the disposal of the employer” is an incorrect definition because the worker offers his work power at work, not himself.

Article (56) Thirdly, Article (1) shall amend the establishment, alteration, repair or demolition of public works or the development of public works.

Article (57): First: A representative of the most representative employers’ organization, amended to three representatives. As well as a representative of the most representative workers’ organization, to be amended to three representatives

Article 61

  First: Determine the working day by 8 hours a day, while the demand at the global level now is 35 hours per week.

Fourth: The provisions of this Article shall be excluded from the following:

G) Domestic service workers.

H) Agriculture workers.

We believe that the exclusion of these workers in the sectors referred to is a violation of the rights of workers of these groups.

Article (65) the term “workers’ organizations” shall be replaced by the words “trade unions”.

Chapter 9:

Vacations

Article (68) First: A- The workers shall enjoy rest during holidays and public holidays prescribed by law, to be paid a full wage except on Saturday, except on Saturday, and delete B which stipulates that the worker shall enjoy weekly rest for one day with full pay. Thirdly, the days of holidays and public holidays that fall during the worker’s vacation shall not be counted as part of the annual leave. Amend to not count as part of the annual leave and sick leave during the holidays, to the end of the paragraph.

Article 68 First: b. the article reads: “The worker enjoys weekly rest for one day with full pay.” We demand a two-day vacation and full pay.

Article: The worker’s annual leave is specified in the draft with 20 days for each year. Our demand is 36 days a year.

Article (76) First: First: A marriage license shall be amended by ten full wages instead of five days.

C – The death leave specified in the law is short and is supposed to be 7 days.

Third: Hajj holidays. This paragraph gives a religious reference to the law. It is supposed to be a general labor law devoid of references to affiliations.

Chapter 10: Protection of Working Women.

Article 80, first, there is a definition of the work of women in this paragraph that prevents the employment of women at night work; we think that the choice should be left for the woman herself.

Article (81) First: The worker shall be entitled to maternity and full-time maternity leave for a period of (72) seventy-two days per year, which shall be amended in accordance with the agreement of 82 for 2000 and shall be 98 days of leave.

Chapter XII

 Protection of quarry, mines and mineral materials workers

The majority of workers in mines and quarries are public sector workers. Therefore, it is necessary to include public sector workers in the provisions of any law or legislation relating to occupational safety or protection to work in the same category and not to exclude them.

  Ranks are not excluded.

Article 103: The daily working hours of miners according to this law exceed the time limits set by the world.

Chapter XIII

Occupational health, safety and labor inspection

Note: No compensation for:

  Work injuries.

Workers’ illness due to work

Affected by working conditions

Section II.

Labor inspection

Article 121: The Labor Inspection Committee shall be prohibited from:

Second: Disclosing the secrets that they see … etc. What is meant by secrets? Why these restrictions and protection for employers?

Article 124 First Amendment the Director of the Inspection Section or whoever is authorized by the Governorate shall be responsible for the decisions of the Inspection Committee to facilitate the work of the Inspection Committee and therefore facilitate the work and routine conduct.

Chapter Fourteen: Rules of Business Discipline.

Article 127: First: This paragraph expands the control of employers and workers and over-emphasis on mistakes or violations of workers.

 Article 128: Formulated in a manner that denies the authority of the employer in formality, while it allows him to perform many legal proceedings up to the expiry of the period of 15 days.

Article 131 In all its paragraphs, the employer is allowed to separate the worker in many situations without reference to any reference or entity, without any defense of the worker.

Chapter XVI

Collective agreements and negotiations

Article 138 Third: The law shall provide for the inclusion of workers who are not included in the collective agreement without recourse to the employer.

Chapter XVII: Labor Disputes.

Article 147

 Second, the paragraph states: “The workers’ union shall not declare the strike as long as the procedures for its dissolution are not completed.” We see this as a restriction on the freedom of strike. The law is required to provide for the freedom of organization to declare a strike.

There are some general comments made at the workshops and the final conference:

1 – Re-reading the draft law after it was the first reading on February 4, 2012 in the House of Representatives.

2. Repeal of the 150 law, according to which workers were transferred to employees.

3 – Emphasize the freedom of trade union action.

4. Iraq’s compliance with international conventions relating to workers and labor law.

5. Serious efforts to legislate the Social Security Law because it supported the Labor Law.

6. Include working women with the same rights as female employees.

7 – Guarantee the rights of workers working with foreign companies.

8. The draft should be compatible with the international conventions that provide for freedom of association in accordance with Conventions 87 of 1948 and 98 of 1949.

9 – Deleted materials that represent the spirit of law in the government sector, which is 14 articles on the rights of workers.

10. An area of ​​trade union action should be given where article 5 of chapter 3 states that public discourse must be clearly regulated.

11. The draft must include a special chapter on trade union legislation that speaks about the legal nature of the union and the membership and funds of the public body.

12. The draft did not refer to the establishment of an arbitral tribunal, as in Article 150, for the purpose of resolving disputes between the worker and the employer.

13. In Article (67) in the area of ​​fines, it must be appropriate to what is currently prevailing.

14 – Giving the right to establish trade unions in the draft as referred to in Article 22 of the Constitution.

15. Abolition of the provisions of Resolution 150 for the year 87, which denied the rights of social security and the allocation of risk and health insurance and to refer to the age of material clearly and unequivocally.

16 – Article (61) Businesses that perform two-time must be clear so as to determine the additional working hours and whether or not compensated.

17. In Article 69 (V), the legislator did not clarify whether the illness was due to work or not.

18. Article (83) mentioned the working mother there conflict with the civil service law and that the request by the employer has the right to refuse or accept the worker’s request to enjoy maternity leave, it must be amended by obliging the employer to give maternity leave to the working community.

19. Article (18) The amounts imposed on the operation shall be amended so that the infringing employer shall be required in accordance with Article (16) of the draft in an amount not less than one million Dinars at a minimum.

Media Office of

Tammuz Organization for Social Development

18/11/2012