Iraqi Trade Unions reject structural adjustment programs

January 21st, 2006 at 12:07 Björn Hallberg

The meddling by the IMF and the World Bank doesn’t seem to be very popular. Here is a list of suggested changes in the current US-controlled globalization of the economy …

Znet - A Joint Statement Concerning the Programs of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Iraq

1. Increasing transparency and additional representation for Iraq in the decision-making structures of the IFIs.
2. To stop imposing structural adjustment conditions for loans.
3. Agreeing to provide funding for public services and state-owned enterprises without demanding their privatization.
4. Canceling debts owed by Iraq that have resulted from the policies of the former regime.
5. Rejecting the reduction of spending on social services especially the elimination of government support for the food distribution system or the reduction of the number of items covered.
6. Strongly rejecting the privatization of publicly owned entities and especially of the oil, education, health, electricity, transportation and construction sectors.
7. Rejecting the increase in the price of petroleum products, considering the negative impact of the increase on the living standards of Iraqis.
8. Adopting a new labor law and a pension and social security law that assure workers’ rights and are in conformity with international labor standards and human rights conventions. The World Bank and the IMF must also respect these standards.

They are right to protest. This formula has not been proven anywhere else on the planet where restructuring has been applied. In fact, it just barely works in energized western economies that have in part arrived at neo-liberalism by an organic process that has taken centuries. But then again, pragmatists don’t go into economics.

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