The Falluja Social Cohesion Council held a workshop with the Economic and Social Rights masar (path) within the Iraqi Social Forum to discuss the challenges facing municipal and education workers on 22 June 2019.

The meeting began by introducing the path of Economic and Social Rights and reviewing the most important activities that it has carried out with unions and trade unions. The discussion then moved to other issues concerning the great number of private schools in the governorate, in addition to the high prices they demand and their competition with public schools, which will weaken the educational system and results in a lack of services in public schools. Then, they discussed ways to consolidate decent work strategies and reduce the fragility of the labor market in Falluja, while presenting the problems of municipal workers and the challenges facing them at work.

Members agreed to tackle the subject of municipal workers and their poor daily wages, despite their commitment to long daily working hours. In spite of these poor wages, they are not received on time, and this makes the workers suffer under difficult living conditions. This creates fear among employers of an angry reaction from the workers if they continue to be treated in such a neglected way. The council will work on implementing a round table discussion with the parties and those involved in this issue in order to reach effective solutions at the end of July.

The Fallujah Social Cohesion Council is just one of the social cohesion councils operating in 4 governorates in Iraq (Sulaymaniyah, Baghdad, Falluja, and Maysan). It works in cooperation with the Information Center for Research and Development and Tammuz Organization within the framework of the Iraqi Social Forum, the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative and Un Ponte Per.. the Italian Organization, and it is supported by the EU Project, “Mesopotamian Youth for Democratic Governance, Social Cohesion, and Reconciliation in Iraq.”

The Fallujah Social Cohesion Council