Demonstration of workers and employees of oil products distribution in Baghdad

Demonstration of workers and employees
of oil products distribution in Baghdad

Hundreds of workers and employees of the Oil Products Distribution Department in Baghdad demonstrated in Furdaus Square in central Baghdad on 10 September 2008. A memorandum addressed to the Ministry of Oil listed their legitimate demands and explained the situation in the distribution stations as a result of unfair decisions to suspend workers and stop their salaries. The following were some of their demands:

1 - To pay the salaries of full-time clerks and workers in the oil units, including stations and gas distribution areas.
2 - To abolish the fines, in line with those abolished by the Minister of Oil in 2006.
3 - To end the penalty of banning work in the oil units, that is concurrent with administrative penalties, because it masks unemployment and immobilizes the potential of employees.
4 - To determine the specific nature of irregularities for which station employees are held responsible, because they get penalised for things that have nothing to do with their jobs.
5 - Inspection and regulatory commissions should specify the irregularity in the employment record of the oil unit and get it signed by the unit's clerk.
6 - To provide maintenance for the stations and sustain the oil units in a proper manner.
7 - To ensure that the clerks of stations and full-time workers are included in additional work and holidays because their work hours exceed 12 hours a day.
8 - To provide the stations with full-time workers in line with the number of pumps and work hours, and to register the temporary workers as permanent staff.
9 - To tackle the lack of understanding and cooperation between the Baghdad Distribution Department and the Technical Affairs Commission, and to identify the faults in order to solve the technical problems.
10 - To restore the use of the Master Meter which is connected to the tanker when the product is emptied, because it was used for two weeks and then cancelled.
11 - To ensure the presence of a representative of the workers and employees in all the investigative and technical committees that are related to work, in order to resolve all the problems and obstacles that impede the operation of the oil stations.

While calling upon the relevant bodies in the Ministry of Oil to respond to these demands, the memorandum stressed that the workers and employees of the Baghdad Oil Products Distribution Department are prepared to cooperate and abide by the regulations stipulated by the Ministry in order to contribute to alleviating the fuel crisis experienced by the country and to be the main component of Oil Products Distribution Company.

Source: "Tareeq Al-Shaab", daily paper of the Iraqi Communist Party, 14 September 2008.