Iraq Electricity Ministry, workers to talk

BAGHDAD, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Iraq's electricity sector workers say a sit-in last week resulted in the power minister's agreement to discuss their demands.

Workers in Iraq's Nasiriyah power station staged a sit-in, demanding the Electricity Ministry do more to help them keep the plant in operation, the Badr Newspaper reports. According to a statement by the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, sit-ins also took place in Basra, Hilla, Musayab and Kut, organized by the Union of Engineering technicians of the Federation of Workers' Councils and Union in Iraq.

The Electricity Ministry, meanwhile, is asking the federal government for more funds for projects, and is criticizing the international business community for not bidding on contracts.

Abbas Abd Al Hassan Rahi, the chief of the Technicians and Engineers Union, said the Nasiriyah plant was nearing collapse because of the alleged lack of resources dedicated by the ministry to repairs and new projects.

"After many requests were made to the Electricity Ministry and the authorities in charge that they fulfill their duties, we organized this sit-in," said Rahi, who praised the workers for keeping electricity flowing.

Beyond the sit-in, the workers called for Electricity Minister Karim Waheed Hasan to be fired, NPR reports. Workers also criticize the ministry for allowing some areas of Baghdad to receive more electricity than others, attributing it to political and militia influence. Hasan said at a recent news conference he's started an anti-corruption program.

He's also urging foreign companies to bid on contracts to reconstruct and build new infrastructure.

"The Ministry is about to embark on six projects for the generation of electricity, five in Baghdad and one in al-Maseeb, Bable province," Hasan told the Voices of Iraq news agency.

"Iraqi companies are only rehabilitating the power grid, but not rebuilding it," he said.

The Iraqi Electrical Utility Workers Union has complained the ministry is too reliant on foreigners instead of paying Iraqi workers and companies to fix the infrastructure.

Hasan told a news conference in Baghdad the capital receives less than half the output it needs "as its power stations are not producing electricity because the eight oil and gas pipelines that supply them have been destroyed."

Hasan said the country is producing less than half of the 9,500 megawatts Iraqis need, the news service of the U.N. Humanitarian Office reports, largely because of regular attacks and other outages.

"We have asked the government to allocate $4 billion in the 2008 budget to our ministry to rebuild the power network, instead of $1.4 billion," he said.