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The Rasheed, Baghdad: Safe & secure with a risk bonus

Staff at the Rasheed, Baghdad's biggest hotel and host to politicians, diplomats and foreign businessmen, have gone on strike demanding a 'risk bonus' as compensation for the dangers they face.

Some 200 staff, who are employees of the ministry of culture, gathered in front of the hotel on Wednesday, holding banners that read: "Where are our rights?"

"We are asking for a risk bonus because we are frequently targeted by mortars and rocket attacks. The Rasheed hotel is a dangerous place," Rahim Karim, a maintenance worker, told AFP.

Two hotel employees have been killed since August, staff say, one in a bomb attack on the nearby foreign ministry and another when a mortar round struck right in front of the hotel.

The hotel, which employs around 800 people, is located in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone where Iraq's parliament and main ministries are located, as well as the British and US embassies. "The prime minister (Nuri al-Maliki) must respond to our demands," said Mohammad Ibrahim, who works in the accounting department.

"We have been under attack since 2003, and we never stopped working. But today we're saying we've had enough. We're fed up," said another visibly agitated member of staff.

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Complaining that no negotiations have even begun with the hotel manager, the staff who have now been on strike for four days are also demanding his resignation. "We want him to go because he has no respect for us," said Tufik Abdel Reza, another disgruntled employee.

The staff are also unhappy about being subjected to daily body scans, which they say are bad for their health.

The hotel has stayed open, but the rooms have not been made up for four days and the restaurant is closed. In the hotel lobby, some of the guests said that, while irritated by the inconvenience caused, they sympathised with the demands of the staff. "The strike is particularly annoying for us, given that MPs and ministers stay at this hotel," said Azhar al-Sheikhi, minister of women's affairs between 2004 and 2006.

But the strike also demonstrates that Iraq is rediscovering "the democratic path," she added.

"We are seeing more and more demonstrations in Iraq and that is a good thing. We're finally beginning to use the tools of democracy, like strikes and street protests," said the former minister.

But she stressed that "the problem in this country is not the right to strike, but the problem of being heard."

Source: APF, HNN