Last week, the United States and Iraq announced a bilateral United States-Iraq Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), signed in 2005, is likely to enter into force later this year. TIFAs provide a formal bilateral mechanism for countries to discuss trade- and investment-related issues.

For Iraq's workers, of particular importance in the TIFA is the countries' commitment to improve the observance of internationally recognized core labor standards such as freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. Though there is no formal enforcement mechanism in the TIFA accompanying the commitment to these standards, the formal discussion mechanisms may open a door for the U.S. government to be more effective than it has been in addressing long-standing worker rights abuses in Iraq.

The AFL-CIO first petitioned the U.S. government in 2008 regarding these abuses, which primarily stem from an inadequate legal framework. Late in 2012, the U.S. government finally held a hearing to investigate the matter more thoroughly. At that time, the AFL-CIO reported that no draft of a separate trade union law yet existed. That is still the case. A new trade union law is necessary to ensure that all workers, including public- and private-sector workers, as well as government employees, have the right to form trade unions and bargain collectively without fear of discrimination or reprisal.

The government of Iraq has regularly retaliated against union leaders and activists for engaging in legitimate union activity, including transferring workers to worksites far from their homes or in remote locations, imposing large fines on them and disciplining them in their jobs, including suspensions, withholding of bonuses and demotions. Additionally, the government of Iraq has interfered with internal union affairs, particularly in the elections of union officers. All of these activities violate internationally recognized worker rights. The impact of such retaliation spreads far beyond the individual workers retaliated against—it deters and suppresses union membership and activities—and even stifles freedom of speech.

Disregard for worker rights in Iraq is obviously a problem for Iraqi working families. But it is also a very serious problem for workers everywhere. There is a global market for labor—and repression of rights and suppression of wages anywhere, harms workers in their efforts to better their lives everywhere. We encourage the U.S. government to use this new TIFA mechanism to raise the profile of workers' rights abuses in Iraq and to use this and every other opportunity to pressure the Iraqi government to establish labor and trade union laws that fully and effectively protect fundamental labor rights. Iraq is not meeting its obligations to those who keep its economy running—its working people. If the United States does not use all the tools available in U.S. law to stand up for Iraqi’s workers—it is letting down workers everywhere.