6:00-8:30pm Community Dinner and Plenary Session
Provincial House-South Campus
The Struggle for Working Women’s Rights: Iraqi Women Tell Their Stories
On Saturday July 12, 2008, six Iraqi women trade unionists will give a panel discussion on labor rights and women’s rights in Iraq, which will be open to the participants of the Summer School for Union Women as well as to the broader St Louis community. This event aims to involve American trade unionists and women and men from the community in the struggle to promote and defend the rights of Iraqi workers. The panel discussion will begin with presentations from selected members (2 or 3) of the panel to share their diverse experiences fighting for the rights of women and workers in Iraq, including how their unions are fighting the Iraqi government’s campaign against freedom of association and the right to organize as well as what it means to be a working woman and trade unionist in Iraq. The discussion will then be opened up for a question and answer session with the entire delegation, in which Iraqi and American union and community activists exchange experience.
The Iraqi delegation includes women from the major labor federations of Iraq: The Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), the Kurdistan General Workers Syndicate Union (KGWSU), the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI), and the Iraqi Kurdistan Workers Syndicate Union (IKWSU). These women work in a variety of sectors including tourism, oil, electricity, and journalism and all hold elected or appointed leadership positions in their unions. In addition, they are active as labor educators and Women’s Affairs Officers in their unions. For example, one member of the delegation is the only female President of a union in Iraq, who also serves on the executive board of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
