Workers face government crackdown

BAGHDAD - The Ministry of Industry and Minerals is the latest to warn its employees against interacting with the growing union movement in Iraq.

Workers in the public sector are banned from organizing, a holdover of a Saddam Hussein. The 2005 Constitution calls for a new labor law and a draft is with the Council of Ministers, but in its absence several ministries – including the Ministry of Oil – have gone with the strict adherence to current regulations.