Faleh Abood Umara & Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein

Iraqi Labor Leaders

Previously Aired On: June 21, 2007 - Listen to this Show!

Faleh Abood Umara is a founding member of the oil workers union and worked for the Southern Oil Company in Basra for 28 years. In 1998, he was detained by the Hussein regime for his activities on behalf of his coworkers. He has served on the union’s negotiating team with both the Oil Ministry and British occupation authorities to defend the rights and interests of oil industry workers in the post Saddam era. The Southern Oil Workers Union has conducted strikes against outsourcing to foreign workers and schemes to privatize the oil sector.

Hashmeya Muhsin al Hussein is the first woman to head a national high school, she went to work at the Southern Company for Electricity, in the labor movement. She rose to leadership of the Electricity Workers Union in Basra and recently was elected its national president. She serves on the executive committee of the Basra Work Unions Coalition. She is head of the Women Workers’ Bureau and is a leader in the Iraqi Women’s Association. She and her 7-year old son have received death threats as a result of her activism.