By Jesse Russell

Iraq’s Oil Ministry has been ordered not to deal with unions, so Basra oil workers may be walk. Saddam Hussein had banned union organizing and the U.S. occupation also bans it. But the workers have stayed united and used strikes since 2003 to make their voices heard.

By Doug Cunningham

A strike by the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions shut down oil pipelines in Iraq earlier this week. But the strike has been scaled back. As the Iraqi government continues to threaten the strikers. Iraqi troops were sent to surround the strikers June Fifth. The ICEM, a 20-million member international labor federation, says arrest warrants have been issued for some Iraqi union leaders. ICEM Director of Organizing Jim Catterson says the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions opposes the proposed hydrocarbons law that will turn over Iraqi oil to multinational corporations. The ICEM is calling on unions worldwide to support the Iraqi oil strikers.

By Doug Cunningham

The 20-million member International Chemical, Energy and Mineworkers labor federation is calling on Iraq’s government to finish peaceful negotiations with striking Basra oil pipeline workers. The workers went on strike this week and the Iraqi military has surrounded the strikers. The ICEM is calling on the government not to arrest or harm the strikers, but to settle the dispute through negotiations instead.

By Doug Cunningham

The high military spending on the Iraq war is leading to fewer jobs and slower economic growth for the U.S. That’s according to a report from the Center For Economic and Policy Research. Using a simulation model from the economic forecasting company, Global Insight, the report shows the economic impact of higher military spending turns negative in the sixth year. After ten years it results in 446,000 fewer jobs and inflation and interest rates are driven higher, which slows sales of big-ticket goods like cars. Manufacturing and construction lose the most jobs. Economist Dean Baker says while it’s often believed that wars are good for the economy, in fact higher military spending diverts resources from productive uses. And that, he says, slows economic growth and produces fewer jobs.

By Doug Cunningham

With a build-up of U.S. military power in the Persian Gulf, U.S. Labor Against the War is opposing any possible U.S. military action against Iran. U.S. Labor Against The War is urging its affiliates and supporters to demand that Congress take measures to stop any aggression against Iran. Labor's antiwar coalition says diplomatic, not military solutions, should be used to resolve any disputes with Iran. U.S. Labor Against The War says the American people should not allow the Bush administration to compound its crimes in Iraq by attacking Iran.

By Doug Cunningham

The AFL-CIO is demanding an end to U.S. military involvement in Iraq. At its winter meeting in Las Vegas the labor federation’s Executive Council said Congress should insist on a timetable for disengagement. If the president refuses to act, the AFL-CIO says, Congress must use its powers under the Constitution and act to end the war. The AFL-CIO says with tens of thousands of U.S. troops dead or wounded, its time to end what has become an endless military occupation in the midst of a civil war. An antiwar Democratic caucus in the U.S. House is also calling for a U.S. withdrawal by the end of this year. Democratic House leadership wants legislation forcing troops out by September of 2008.

By Doug Cunningham

Started by students at UC Santa Barbara, an anti-Iraq war student strike is happening today at several college campuses in California, New York, Chicago, Portland Oregon, North Carolina, Georgia and New Mexico. Sponsored by The World Cant Wait group, the student strikes are demanding an immediate an end to the Iraq war with an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops. U.S. Labor Against The War is also demanding a withdrawal of U.S. troops, since working people are the ones fighting and dying in the war and money spent on the war can't be spent on things that make life for working families better.

By Doug Cunningham

Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Senator Russ Feingold wants Congress to use the power of the purse to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq. U.S Labor against The War's Michael Eisencher agrees.

[Eisencher]: "This is the time for protest. And we have got to register as strongly as possible as early as possible in this year in the new Congress our intent that this war shall be ended."

Antiwar protesters will make that demand in Washington, D.C. January 27th.

By Doug Cunningham

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says George W. Bush sending 20,000 more troops to Iraq ignores the will of the American people and perpetuates the administration’s flawed Iraq policy. Sweeney says what’s needed in Iraq is an expansion of political and diplomatic efforts, not an increase in U.S. military presence. Iraq needs sustainable social and economic development with a guarantee of fundamental labor and trade union rights, Sweeney says, and there can be no military solution involving American troops until there’s political will to stop the violence. American policy in Iraq has been based on false premises and wishful thinking since the beginning.

By Doug Cunningham

Organized labor is with the vast majority of the American people against the Iraq war. U.S. Labor Against The War’s Michael Eisencher says the new Democratic Congress should not allow Bush to escalate the war.

[Eisencher 1]: “The new Congress has an obligation to honor the mandate that they were given by the electorate to cut off the funds and force the president to bring our troops back. He has an urge to surge and we have an urge to purge."

On January 27th there will be a demonstration against the war in Washington, D.C. demanding that the troops be withdrawn immediately.

By Doug Cunningham

Democracy For America, the political action committee headed by Jim Dean, is raising money to put the voices of those touched by the Iraq war on the radio. Dean says these people telling their personal stories will reveal the truth about the war.

[Jim Dean 1] : "We're tryin' to bring this war home to all of America. And I think one of the ways to do that is to collect people's stories about how the war has affected their own families and themselves, their communities. And get that word out."

Dean says politicians of both parties need to be pushed to action on ending the Iraq war and these stories will help do that.