8 September, 2010From September 10 Gerdau workers around the world will again call on Gerdau to improve its health and safety record and remember Aitor the worker who died on September 5 at a Gerdau plant in Spain.
SPAIN: A 28-year-old subcontracted metalworker called Aitor died after being trapped at chest level between one car and a casting piece on September 5 at the Sidenor Gerdau plant in Basauri, Spain. The operator, who had previously worked for two years in Sidenor, returned as a subcontractor to the plant in February this year.
Sidenor's workers at Basauri, Reinosa (Cantabria), Villalba (Madrid), Barcelona, Legutiano and Azkoitia plants gathered on September 7 in a show of solidarity with the deceased worker. They demanded that the company change riskier positions in its protocol systems.
Francisco Antunez, coordinator of IMF-affiliated UGT at the Sidenor Gerdau group said through a statement that unfortunately a worker has fallen and demanded the company show "a greater commitment to ensure stable employment". The union also called for a "review and update of all security measures, especially in the jobs most at risk."
Workers and management will hold a meeting in the coming days. The committee will ask the management to improve safety systems and end the "possible existence" for a similar situation to occur again.
The committee believes that increasing the order book can create permanent employment. Sidenor Gerdau, specializing in special steel and large forgings, has three production sites in Spain, with a workforce of 2,250 employees.
The International Metalworkers' Federation wrote to the company condemning the workplace fatality stating, "since the creation of the Gerdau Global Workers' Committee in 2006 the IMF has repeatedly proposed to establish a global dialogue with Gerdau to take measures aimed at improving health and safety working conditions at Gerdau's plants."
The Gerdau Global Workers' Committee is organizing actions from September 10 at all Gerdau worksites to remember the dead. The next Gerdau Global Workers' Committee is taking place on October 5 to 7, 2010 in Spain.