Mosul Dam administration threatens workers amid strike over unpaid allowances
Shafaq News/ The administration of Mosul Dam has threatened to dismiss contracted workers and transfer permanent employees in the grouting section if they do not end their strike and return to work, a source at the dam said on Thursday.
"The management of the Mosul Dam project has warned the grouting section workers that contracted employees will be terminated and permanent staff will be reassigned to other departments if they do not cease their strike and resume grouting operations," the source told Shafaq News Agency.
The workers have halted their duties due to unpaid allowances, which have been withheld for the past six months, the source added.
The stoppage of grouting activities at Mosul Dam began on Wednesday, following a protest by workers demanding their overdue financial entitlements. The protesters staged a sit-in on Thursday morning at the dam’s tunnel to press for their demands.
"Several dozen workers, both permanent and contracted, perform grouting operations at Mosul Dam with salaries ranging between 200,000 and 260,000 Iraqi dinars. However, hazard pay and other allowances have been suspended for six months," the source said.
The source emphasized that the salaries "do not match the hazardous and strenuous nature of the grouting work." He warned that "the continued suspension of grouting poses a risk to the dam, which requires daily grouting since its construction in the 1980s."
Mosul Dam, Iraq's largest water reservoir, was constructed on gypsum foundations and requires regular cement injections to fill cracks in its structure.
In 2016, the US embassy in Baghdad issued a warning to its citizens to prepare to evacuate in the event of a catastrophe should the dam collapse. This alert came two years after the Islamic State took control of Mosul and parts of Iraq, disrupting maintenance operations at the dam.
The issues with Mosul Dam began shortly after its completion in 1986 when it became apparent that its foundations required daily grouting with concrete due to the unsuitable ground on which it was built. This ongoing process has been crucial in maintaining the integrity of the dam and its associated structures.
In January 2016, Iraq signed a contract with the Italian company Trevi to carry out maintenance work on the dam.
Mosul Dam, located on the Tigris River, was constructed by a joint German-Italian consortium and completed in 1986. It spans 3.2 kilometers and stands 131 meters high, making it the largest dam in Iraq and the fourth largest in the Middle East.
