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20 September, 2005ICEM News release No. 68
Four major mining companies are now being targeted by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which held its World Congress in Durban, South Africa, last week:
RIO TINTO
In Durban today, John Maitland promised "full solidarity and support" for Namibian miners facing a restructuring programme by the world's second-biggest mining company, Rio Tinto. Maitland is the newly-elected President of the ICEM. He is also National Secretary of ICEM-affiliated Australian miners' union the CFMEU, which has been embroiled in a series of conflicts with Rio Tinto, mainly over the company's attempts to deunionise its Australian operations.
Workers at Rio Tinto's Rossing uranium mine in Namibia have held a series of protests recently over the company's plans to restructure the operation without properly consulting the workers and their union, the ICEM-affiliated Miners' Union of Namibia (MUN). MUN leaders were among the 800 delegates at the ICEM Congress last week.
"The ICEM and the CFMEU will support our Namibian comrades in every way that we can," Maitland said today. "From our own experience in Australia, we know that when Rio Tinto tries to restructure behind the unions' backs, it is really out to destroy jobs and bust unions."
Rio Tinto's anti-union tactics were condemned by the Australian Federal Court last Friday. The court found Rio Tinto guilty of breaching freedom of association laws by victimising union reps at its Hunter Valley No. 1 mine in Australia. The company refused to allow three miners there to carry out bona fide union business. It treated the union reps as absent without leave and threatened them with dismissal. In fact, two of them had been attending the Industrial Relations Commission and the third had been at a union meeting. The company has decided not to appeal against the verdict, and may now be fined.
A continuing ICEM global campaign is aimed at persuading Rio Tinto to abandon its anti-union stance, while improving both its environmental record and its treatment of indigenous peoples. The action, conducted in alliance with a wide range of campaigning organisations, includes a special Rio Tinto cybercampaign.
PLACER DOME
Last week's Congress unanimously approved the launching of a global ICEM campaign on mining multinational Placer Dome. The Canadian-based company recently retrenched about 40 per cent of its South African workforce and has taken an anti-union stance in a number of countries where it operates. Its environmental record has also been severely criticised (see ICEM UPDATE 63/1999).
Among those speaking for the campaign was Lawrence McBrearty. In Canada, Placer Dome's home country, McBrearty is National Director of the ICEM-affiliated United Steelworkers of America (USWA). His union represents Placer Dome miners in Ontario. "We have a responsibility as a labour movement to support you in rectifying this injustice," McBrearty told South Africa's ICEM-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). "Rest assured that the 180,000 steelworkers in Canada and 500,000-plus members in the United States will do everything we can."
INCO and GOLDCORP
McBrearty also told the Congress of two major disputes facing Canadian miners, and asked for global trade union support.
On 14 September, Inco locked out 1,040 USWA members at its nickel mine in Thompson, Manitoba. This followed the union membership's rejection of the company's final offer. The Inco offer did not include any improvements in pensions, wages or benefits. USWA members at two other Inco Canadian operations have suspended their participation in joint labour-management design projects until the lock-out in Thompson is settled. Inco also has production operations in the UK, Indonesia, Japan, Guatemala, France, China, New Caledonia and the United States.
In Red Lake, Ontario, 187 USWA members have been on strike since June 1996 at a gold mine run by Toronto-based Goldcorp. This is the longest mining strike in Canadian history. It began over the company's demand that a stable collective agreement, in place for over 35 years, should be completely rewritten. The effect would have been to reduce all the gains made by the union for its members their over the past 35 years.
"Inco and Goldcorp are two examples of a heartless corporate culture that puts profits before people," McBrearty told the ICEM Congress. "We will take our members' struggle for justice to the four corners of the globe until we achieve fair and just agreements in Thompson and Red Lake."
"We will mobilise our affiliates worldwide to communicate their solidarity with the USWA in these two important disputes," said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, "and we will use every means to urge both Inco and Goldcorp to reach a settlement with the union expeditiously."
RIO TINTO
In Durban today, John Maitland promised "full solidarity and support" for Namibian miners facing a restructuring programme by the world's second-biggest mining company, Rio Tinto. Maitland is the newly-elected President of the ICEM. He is also National Secretary of ICEM-affiliated Australian miners' union the CFMEU, which has been embroiled in a series of conflicts with Rio Tinto, mainly over the company's attempts to deunionise its Australian operations.
Workers at Rio Tinto's Rossing uranium mine in Namibia have held a series of protests recently over the company's plans to restructure the operation without properly consulting the workers and their union, the ICEM-affiliated Miners' Union of Namibia (MUN). MUN leaders were among the 800 delegates at the ICEM Congress last week.
"The ICEM and the CFMEU will support our Namibian comrades in every way that we can," Maitland said today. "From our own experience in Australia, we know that when Rio Tinto tries to restructure behind the unions' backs, it is really out to destroy jobs and bust unions."
Rio Tinto's anti-union tactics were condemned by the Australian Federal Court last Friday. The court found Rio Tinto guilty of breaching freedom of association laws by victimising union reps at its Hunter Valley No. 1 mine in Australia. The company refused to allow three miners there to carry out bona fide union business. It treated the union reps as absent without leave and threatened them with dismissal. In fact, two of them had been attending the Industrial Relations Commission and the third had been at a union meeting. The company has decided not to appeal against the verdict, and may now be fined.
A continuing ICEM global campaign is aimed at persuading Rio Tinto to abandon its anti-union stance, while improving both its environmental record and its treatment of indigenous peoples. The action, conducted in alliance with a wide range of campaigning organisations, includes a special Rio Tinto cybercampaign.
PLACER DOME
Last week's Congress unanimously approved the launching of a global ICEM campaign on mining multinational Placer Dome. The Canadian-based company recently retrenched about 40 per cent of its South African workforce and has taken an anti-union stance in a number of countries where it operates. Its environmental record has also been severely criticised (see ICEM UPDATE 63/1999).
Among those speaking for the campaign was Lawrence McBrearty. In Canada, Placer Dome's home country, McBrearty is National Director of the ICEM-affiliated United Steelworkers of America (USWA). His union represents Placer Dome miners in Ontario. "We have a responsibility as a labour movement to support you in rectifying this injustice," McBrearty told South Africa's ICEM-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). "Rest assured that the 180,000 steelworkers in Canada and 500,000-plus members in the United States will do everything we can."
INCO and GOLDCORP
McBrearty also told the Congress of two major disputes facing Canadian miners, and asked for global trade union support.
On 14 September, Inco locked out 1,040 USWA members at its nickel mine in Thompson, Manitoba. This followed the union membership's rejection of the company's final offer. The Inco offer did not include any improvements in pensions, wages or benefits. USWA members at two other Inco Canadian operations have suspended their participation in joint labour-management design projects until the lock-out in Thompson is settled. Inco also has production operations in the UK, Indonesia, Japan, Guatemala, France, China, New Caledonia and the United States.
In Red Lake, Ontario, 187 USWA members have been on strike since June 1996 at a gold mine run by Toronto-based Goldcorp. This is the longest mining strike in Canadian history. It began over the company's demand that a stable collective agreement, in place for over 35 years, should be completely rewritten. The effect would have been to reduce all the gains made by the union for its members their over the past 35 years.
"Inco and Goldcorp are two examples of a heartless corporate culture that puts profits before people," McBrearty told the ICEM Congress. "We will take our members' struggle for justice to the four corners of the globe until we achieve fair and just agreements in Thompson and Red Lake."
"We will mobilise our affiliates worldwide to communicate their solidarity with the USWA in these two important disputes," said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, "and we will use every means to urge both Inco and Goldcorp to reach a settlement with the union expeditiously."