SHEFFIELD TRADES UNION COUNCIL.
Established 1858
Trades & Labour Club,
Talbot Street,
Sheffield,
S2 2TG.

Telephone. Office 01142750744

E-mail:  billronksley@hotmail.com

15th September, 2003
Circular 2003/16.


To Sheffield TUC Delegates.

Dear Colleagues,

SHEFFIELD TUC DELEGATE MEETING TO BE HELD AT
7.00 P.M. ON TUESDAY, 23RD SEPTEMBER, 2003, IN THE SADACCA SOCIAL CLUB,WICKER,SHEFFIELD.

Iraqi working people suffered enormously as a result of the repression, detention, executions, and mass killings committed by the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein.

Hundreds of trade union activists and leading figures in the Iraqi Trade Union Movement and the democratic forces in general were killed in the years that followed Saddam`s violent rise to political power in 1979.

In spite of this extremely dangerous political environment the workers of Iraq courageously established in 1980 the Workers` Democratic Trade Union Movement of Iraq which was obliged to work underground.

Following the fall of Saddam`s criminal regime on 9th April, 2003, the Workers` Democratic Trade Union Movement of Iraq was able to come out into the open for the first time since its establishment and, along with thousands of workers, was able to celebrate May Day in Baghdad`s main square.

The Workers` Democratic Trade Union Movement of Iraq is committed in its struggle to assist other social forces in the creation of a unified, federal and democratic Iraq that transcends religious, ethethnic and nationalist divisions, but recognising the rights of free speech, assembly, representation, and the right to strike.

However, the Workers` Democratic Trade Union Movement of Iraq is in desparate need of international support, including the support of the British Labour and Trade Union Movement. It needs training in office organisation, as well as bargaining and trade union skills plus essential equipment such as computers and telecommunication facilities.

In order that the Trade Union and Labour Movement in Sheffield may be able to discover how to assist our Iraqi trade union brothers and sisters Abdullah Muhsin, the British based representative of the Workers` Democratic Trade Union Movement of Iraq, has been invited to Address the above Delegate Meeting.

Please make every effort to attend this important Meeting and, if possible, bring along friends and colleagues with you.

Yours fraternally,

Bill Ronksley (Secretary),


SHEFFIELD T.U.C. MEETING, 7.00 P.M.,
TUESDAY, 23RD SEPTEMBER, 2003,
SADACCA SOCIAL CLUB, WICKER,SHEFFIELD.
SPEAKER: ABDULLAH MUHSIN,
OFFICIAL U.K. REPRESENTATIVE OF THE WORKERS` DEMOCRATIC TRADE UNIONS OF IRAQ.

Please make every effort to attend this important Meeting and, if possible, bring along friends and colleagues with you.

Please copy & circulate.