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          Shipping Stevedoring Port Services Hydrocarbons Diving  Sep-Oct 2008 
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Invaders pay Iraqi port workers slave wages10 April 2003By Joel Schor - Inland Boatmans Union, USA
As the coalition forces convoy through nearby towns and Basra in trucks , calling for work on the docks over megaphones , it is clear that a shape up is being administered by the invading British and American forces on behalf of the mega-bilionaire shipping and stevedoring companies that will be on contract to militarily re-supply the invasion, and later re-build Iraq for the new administration. The first of this month the Wallstreet Journal came out with a front page article entitled , "Struggle to Open Key Iraqi Port May Put Most Aid Weeks away". The article details the operations of Coalition forces , and particulariy a British Navy officer, in re-activiting the ports working machinery , and also seeking out and hiring up to some 10,000 workers who will be necessary. Many of the previous positions were apparently held by Baath party cadre and supporters , making coalition forces wary of hiring just anyone off the street. Now the British captain - Williams has befriended a local Iraqi tugboat captain , Mr Ansaf , in order to facilitate the hiring of new work gangs for stevedores, crane operators and the maritime positions associated with tugboats and pilots. The article states how under the previous wage system managed by Baath party officials , the average wages were about 25 cents per day with skill bonuses amounting to about $36 per month. Apparently the British have stated that they already think that this is "too much" , saying it would lead to inflation and a skewed wage scale for the rest of the country's new workforce under a military administration. As the coalition forces convoy through nearby towns and Basra in trucks , soliciting the call for work on the docks over megaphones , it is clear that a shape up is being administered by the invading British and American forces on behalf of the mega-bilionaire shipping and stevedoring companies that will be on contract to militarily re-supply the invasion , and later re-build Iraq for the new administration. This article shows that this Operation Enduring Freedom in Iraq is not at all about liberating the people of Iraq from dictatorship , but re-placing it with wage slavery under a colonial different face.
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