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10 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 72/2001
Swiss unions have taken mining giant Glencore to task over the anti-union practices of its Peruvian company Iscaycruz S.A.
Iscaycruz is trying to destroy a union created by its workers this May, the Swiss trade union confederation USS/SGB says.
The USS has sent a protest letter to Swiss-headquartered Glencore International AG on behalf of all of Switzerland's trade unions, including the industrial and construction workers' SIB/GBI. At the global level, the SIB is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
The Swiss unions say their Peruvian colleagues were threatened with dismissal if they did not resign from their union, the FNTMMSP. After intimidating a number of workers into leaving the union, the company this August applied to have the FNTMMSP derecognised - on the grounds that it no longer had the legally required number of members for collective bargaining!
The USS is pressing Glencore to ensure that its Peruvian company respects "the right of workers to establish and to join trade union organisations ...; the right to collective bargaining; the right not to be dismissed without due cause."
A copy of the letter has gone to the Swiss Secretary of State for the Economy, and the USS says it will raise the matter with the government if Glencore does not meet its demands.
Iscaycruz is trying to destroy a union created by its workers this May, the Swiss trade union confederation USS/SGB says.
The USS has sent a protest letter to Swiss-headquartered Glencore International AG on behalf of all of Switzerland's trade unions, including the industrial and construction workers' SIB/GBI. At the global level, the SIB is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
The Swiss unions say their Peruvian colleagues were threatened with dismissal if they did not resign from their union, the FNTMMSP. After intimidating a number of workers into leaving the union, the company this August applied to have the FNTMMSP derecognised - on the grounds that it no longer had the legally required number of members for collective bargaining!
The USS is pressing Glencore to ensure that its Peruvian company respects "the right of workers to establish and to join trade union organisations ...; the right to collective bargaining; the right not to be dismissed without due cause."
A copy of the letter has gone to the Swiss Secretary of State for the Economy, and the USS says it will raise the matter with the government if Glencore does not meet its demands.