7 July, 2011Mineworker Roberto Arellano was killed June 30 at the mine of La Cienega, in Durango, Mexico. The IMF and ICEM join their Mexican affiliate Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores Mineros, Metalúrgicos y Similares de la República Mexicana (SNTMMSRM) and demand adoption of laws to penalize employers who demonstrate criminal negligence.
MEXICO: Just a day after the death of another miner, Marcos Castorena Reza, on June 29 in the Grupo Peñoles mine of Fresnillo, Zacatecas, another fatal accident occurred due to the company's negligence, now in its mine of La Cienega, Durango. The latest victim is Roberto Arellano, from Fresnillo, who worked for the construction company Valente Flores, a subcontractor to Grupo Peñoles.
Arellano was killed when a steel tube weighing 400 kilograms fell on him from a height of 3.5 meters. Arellano was killed instantly. A regional leader of the National Union of Mineworkers informed on the death, saying Peñoles hid the facts from local media for six days. The mine extracts gold and silver, and 450 workers are employed at the mine and grinding plant.
The fatal accident once again highlights Grupo Peñoles disregard for its employees and workers' life and safety, a behaviour made possible by the permanent complicity of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, led by Javier Lozano Alarcón.
The National Union of Mineworkers SNTMMSRM reiterates its demand for legislation to penalize employers who demonstrate criminal negligence and disregard the health and safety of their workers. During the year 2011 alone, 6 workers have been killed working at Grupo Peñoles' Fresnillo mine. The latest death brings the total for fatal accidents at all Grupo Peñoles installations to over 20 in the past year.
SNTMMSRM president Gomez Urrutia and the union's National Executive Committee expressed their condolences to Roberto Arellano's friends and relatives, and reiterated that they will stand in solidarity with all miners and metalworkers in Mexico, both in their pain and in their struggle for better living standards and welfare.
Arellano was killed when a steel tube weighing 400 kilograms fell on him from a height of 3.5 meters. Arellano was killed instantly. A regional leader of the National Union of Mineworkers informed on the death, saying Peñoles hid the facts from local media for six days. The mine extracts gold and silver, and 450 workers are employed at the mine and grinding plant.
The fatal accident once again highlights Grupo Peñoles disregard for its employees and workers' life and safety, a behaviour made possible by the permanent complicity of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, led by Javier Lozano Alarcón.
The National Union of Mineworkers SNTMMSRM reiterates its demand for legislation to penalize employers who demonstrate criminal negligence and disregard the health and safety of their workers. During the year 2011 alone, 6 workers have been killed working at Grupo Peñoles' Fresnillo mine. The latest death brings the total for fatal accidents at all Grupo Peñoles installations to over 20 in the past year.
SNTMMSRM president Gomez Urrutia and the union's National Executive Committee expressed their condolences to Roberto Arellano's friends and relatives, and reiterated that they will stand in solidarity with all miners and metalworkers in Mexico, both in their pain and in their struggle for better living standards and welfare.