Iraq - Successful strike - supporters stopped from joining (2010)

In November, after some six weeks on strike, leather workers managed to get the authorities to agree to pay all safety benefits and worker back pay. The strike was one of the longest in the history of the Iraqi workers’ movement. The Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions in Iraq had called for the expansion of the strike into the entire industrial sector. There were reports that some workers in the cotton industry in Baghdad wanted to support the strike but were stopped by their management. As well, workers from a light bulb company and a battery producer were calling for a strike in solidarity just as the administration agreed to the worker’s demands.