Company personnel demand outstanding dues

WASSIT / IraqiNews.com: A large number of employees from the State General Company for Textile Industries in Wassit staged a demonstration calling on the government to pay them their outstanding dues. “On Wednesday, the company’s personnel demonstrated in front of the provincial council building, urging the government to pay them the variance in salaries, approved by the cabinet,” a spokesperson for the company’s workers, Ali Ghidan, told IraqiNews.com. The company has a total of 5,500 employees, Ghidan explained, adding that most of them live in difficult life circumstances and fear privatization of the state-owned company. A Shiite province, Wassit, 180 km south of Baghdad, is in the east of the country. Its name comes from the Arabic word meaning “middle,” as it lies along the Tigris about midway between Baghdad and Basra. Its major cities include the capital, al-Kut, and al-Hayy. Prior to 1976 it was known as Kut Province. SS (P) 1