29 June, 2009
Early this week, workers of a transportation subcontractor at the world’s largest open-pit coal mines, Carbones del Cerrejón in Colombia, will present their demands to managers. Backed by powerful Sintracarbón, the ICEM affiliate representing 4,000 Cerrejón miners, one of those presenting the demands will be Vincente Pomarico, the leader of a transport workers’ organising effort who was summarily dismissed recently on expiration of his short-term contract.
The new union, called SINTRAS, would be the first union of subcontractors at Cerrejón, owned jointly by BHP Billiton, AngloAmerican, and Xstrata, to organize. Sintracarbón, recognizing the social harm inflicted by a key contractor who only gives fixed-term contracts to its workers of six months or up to one-year, seeks to make that happen and set a precedent for workers employed by other subcontracting firms on the mine site.
SINTRAS, now counting some 80% of 150 drivers and others as bonafide members, has met fierce resistance in gaining recognition from SOTRANS, the transport company that grew from a very small Guajira department transport firm to a major service-provider at the world’s richest coal reserves. Contract workers, together with Sintracarbón members, have not backed down, conducting recent mobilizations, marches, and meetings with several work groups at Cerrejón.
The contract company has shown willingness to talk with workers’ representatives, but has adamantly refused to enter into a collective agreement.
Firstly, workers are unionizing because they want stability in employment. They want full-time and permanent status. Besides Pomarico, one other SOTRANS worker saw his employment severed because he was promoting the union. Both have been designated as bargaining committee members.
Secondly, workers want pay increases and levels of social benefits that meet minimum standards in Colombia. SOTRANS workers deserve monthly salaries that are better than the US$250 they now receive, particularly with the profitability of the company.
Contract workers are receiving much assistance from Sintracarbón and its President, Jairo Quiroz Delgado, as well as from the regional committee of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Colombia (CUT) in Guajira department. Who they are not receiving support from is the multinational Carbones del Cerrejón.
Sintracarbón’s Jairo Quiroz rejects his employer’s “passive” stance on the matter, and states that Cerrejón’s claim of “enterprise autonomy” is unacceptable, considering the mining concern’s own social pact with his union and miners and communities in the region. Jairo Quiroz says many contract employees at Cerrejón are employed in “semi-slave or enslaved” conditions.
CUT-Guajira charges SOTRANS with denial of basic freedom of association by coercing and frightening workers. It also challenges Carbones del Cerrejón to fulfill its social obligations by pressing for the right of trade union representation at its transport contracting agent.
The ICEM supports formal establishment of the new transportation union, SINTRAS, and pledges to monitor the rights of contract employees at Carbones del Cerrejón.