Protests from housing, reconstruction and municipal workers in Wasit governorate (eastern Iraq) continue to demand the implementation of ministerial decree number 12 of the year 2019. The day before yesterday, it was decided to carry out a salary increase of 50,000 dinars ($ 42) and to count the official holidays and this in a first step towards the execution of the decree in question.
Union sources reported that the governor of the city was forced to receive a delegation of protesters to conduct negotiations before threatening them directly and accusing them of serving political agendas through their movements. These threats and accusations led the delegation to leave the meeting room, which changed the position of the governor and his advisers.
The Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers ,Hamid al-Ghazi, explained in a statement that the ministerial decree concerning workers was studied jointly with the Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labor, the president of the Committee of Advisers, the Secretary-General of the Government and private sector parties and that the negotiations lasted three months. And to add that the same decree did justice to contract workers and employees by guaranteeing their right to retirement because, before this text, the death of the official could deprive him of his pension if the duration of his contract was not sufficient for this purpose.
The Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers indicated that, from now on, these workers have the right to obtain land, bank credit, professional promotion and any other benefits mentioned by law.
English 
العربية