People's Democracy(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
Vol.
XXVII No. 06 February 09, 2003 |
Trade Unions Oppose War On Iraq
WHILE
attending
a
trade
union
conference
at
Nagercoil
in
Tamilnadu,
representatives
of
five
major
trade
union
centres
from
India,
Australia,
Great
Britain,
Iraq
and
Bangladesh
expressed
their
strong
opposition
to
the
USA’s
arrogant
move
to
impose
a
war
on
Iraq.
The
trade
union
representatives
said
so
in
a
statement
issued
from
Nagercoil
on
January
31
when
the
fifth
national
conference
of
the
Construction
Workers
Federation
of
India
was
on.
The
statement
said
outright
that
when
the
United
Nations
was
occupied
with
the
question
of
Iraq,
no
country
had
the
right
to
take
upon
itself
the
job
of
attacking
Iraq
on
the
pretext
of
destroying
the
weapons
of
mass
destruction.
The
meeting
joined
the
world
public
opinion
in
opposing
all
war-like
activities
in
the
Gulf
region
and
demanded
that
a
solution
to
the
present
crisis
must
be
found
through
negotiations
so
that
peace
is
preserved
in
the
Middle
East.
Signatories
to
the
statement
were
Dr
M
K
Pandhe
(president,
Construction
Workers
Federation
of
India,
a
CITU
affiliate),
John
Sutton
(national
secretary,
Construction
and
General
Division,
Australia
and
international
president,
UITBB),
George
Brumwell
(general
secretary,
Union
of
Construction,
Allied
Trades
and
Technicians,
Great
Britain),
Qamarul
Hasan
(organising
secretary,
Jatio
Sramik
Federation,
Bangladesh),
and
Khalil
Al-Mish-Hadani
(secretary
general,
Arab
Vocation
Federation
For
Construction
And
Wood
Workers
Syndicate,
Iraq).
(INN)