Iraqi workers continue to struggle for the right to organize, with little help from the United States: "Workers are in urgent need to build strong and broad-based organizations which are not based on language or religion," says Aso Jabbar, international spokesperson for the Union of Unemployed Iraqis, one of several worker-based groups organized in the aftermath of the recent US invasion. This June marks the second year in a row that international labor groups are gathering in support of Jabbar and other Iraqi labor organizers as the United Nations convenes its annual meeting of the International Labor Organization (ILO). Next Friday, Iraqi labor representatives plan to deliver formal complaints to the ILO, protesting the labor policies of provisional authorities in Iraq. In effect, Iraqi labor organizers accuse US-backed authorities of setting up the national equivalent of a company union, ignoring the rights of workers to organize their own shops and elect their own leaders. According to materials posted at reputable labor sources, such as Eric Lee's LaborStart, Iraqi labor organizers waded right into the chaos of war and began organizing unions as early as March 2003. At a decisive March 16 conference (in 2003), a dissident labor movement, WDTUM, that had been opposing Saddam Hussein's labor practices since 1980, was folded into an exploratory organization called the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) with newly elected officers. From May to December, 2003, numerous independent unions were organized under the IFTU umbrella. The organizing campaign was formally announced on May 10, 2003. One of the independent unions that emerged was UUI. "UUI is a strong organisation of unemployed people that raises the banner of jobs or unemployed insurance to confront the massive unemployment," says Jabbar.