Iraq university strikes continue over service allowances
Shafaq News– Baghdad
University staff across Iraq continued on Tuesday their shut down of campuses after the government moved to restrict university service allowances.
Shafaq News correspondent reported that dozens of academic and administrative employees marched from government universities in Baghdad toward the Cabinet headquarters, raising slogans demanding their rights.
In Babil province, teaching and administrative staff at Al-Qasim Green University continued an open-ended sit-in for a third consecutive day, also bringing official work on campus to a halt. Similar protests were reported in Najaf, Basra, Dhi Qar, Maysan, Al-Anbar, and Nineveh.
The demonstrations follow a Cabinet decision that suspended new contracts, daily-wage hiring, and service allowances for non-teaching employees. The Ministry of Finance later clarified that allowances would apply only to staff fully dedicated to teaching, though acting Education Minister Ahmed Al-Asadi said university service allowances had not been cancelled, but the dispute stems from a “misinterpretation” of the relevant provisions.
University employee Mundhir Al-Jabouri said the measure could reduce some salaries to about 300,000 Iraqi dinars ($230). Another employee, Mustafa Qadhi Jabrin, said the decision contradicts existing law, adding that staff had expected the issue to be settled during the Cabinet’s most recent session, but a lack of quorum delayed the ruling.
No decision has been issued to reverse the measures.
