FITU warns of ‘industrial collapse’ as government pushes privatization drive
Shafaq News – Baghdad
Iraq’s largest labor federation has accused the Ministry of Industry and Minerals of pursuing a “destructive wave of privatization” that threatens to dismantle the country’s state-run manufacturing base and strip thousands of workers of their livelihoods.
In a statement on Saturday, the Federation of Iraq Trade Unions (FITU) said the ministry is moving ahead with the sale and privatization of major public companies, including the Leather and Wool Industries Company—home to the Fattah Pasha Factory in Baghdad’s al-Kadhimiya district—as well as the Petrochemical Industries Company, Ibn Majid General Company, and others long regarded as pillars of Iraq’s industrial sector.
“These are not failing enterprises but victims of years of government neglect and poor management,” the federation charged. “Instead of reviving them, the ministry is dismantling national industry and punishing the workforce that sustained it.”
Union leaders warned that the policy marks a turning point for Iraq’s industrial economy, deepening dependence on oil revenues and eroding what remains of the non-oil sector. They also condemned the ministry’s decision to place employees on mandatory retirement without consent, calling it an abuse of legal authority and a tactic to silence labor activists.
Under Article 12(3) of the Unified Retirement Law No. 9 of 2014, the ministry can enforce early retirement in limited cases—provisions the union says are now being used punitively against outspoken workers.
Labor groups argue that the factories targeted for privatization were once symbols of Iraq’s industrial self-reliance, employing tens of thousands before years of sanctions, war, and corruption hollowed out the sector. The current push, they warn, risks permanently dismantling public industry in a country already struggling to diversify its economy and curb unemployment.
The federation urged the government to halt all privatization and forced-retirement measures, launch a national plan to rebuild public industry, and prioritize investment in skilled labor rather than liquidation.
Read more: Iraq’s path to economic diversification: Overcoming rentier dependence
