Iraq's plans to cut salaries face strong backlash
The Iraqi government's decision to reduce government employees’ salaries has caused a major uproar among the political forces.
The government of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi is seeking to reopen the “social justice” issue regarding state spending on salaries. This means abolishing double salaries, reducing allocations to political prisoners and martyrs and compensation to those who fled to Rafha in Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Shiite uprising in southern Iraq.
The first step of the plan began in early June without parliament approval. The plan cuts up to 15% of retirees' salaries as well as the salaries of many of those aforementioned.
Ahmed Hama Rashid, a member of parliament’s Finance Committee, told Al-Monitor the financial reform draft bill had been handed to parliament and the committee was studying it. However, Kadhimi had already implemented the plan before parliament could make a decision about it.
Nouri al-Maliki's parliament from 2006-2014 passed a series of laws to compensate different categories of Iraqis who were affected by Baath policies before 2003, including families of martyrs, prisoners and people who fled the country for political reasons.
