23 May, 2011IMF participates in an International Seminar on Health and Safety for the Mining sector held in TACNA-Perú.
PERU: On May 18 and 19, the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) participated in the International Seminar on Health and Safety on Miners held in Tacna-Peru. The seminar was promoted by the Labour Ministry with participation of specialists and trade union leaders from Argentina, Chile and Peru. Hundreds of Peruvians mining workers affiliated to Fena-Peru (an IMF affiliate) and to FNTMMSP (an ICEM affiliate) attended the seminar and debated important issues for the mining workers.
The participants discussed the dramatically high levels of insecurity and fatal accidents suffered daily by the mining workers in Peru and the urgent need to jointly campaign and demand Peru's implementation of ILO Convention 176, which deals specifically with health and safety in the mining sector.
IMF Assistant General Secretary Fernando Lopes pointed out the need to build a strong national union in Peru with the capacity to improve workers' safety. "This can only be accomplished by working daily inside the mines, but will also need to be addressed in the political arena in order to defend a fair and efficient public system of inspection, research and implementation of a safety measures," he said.
Lopes also highlighted that the current level of precarious jobs in the sector (over 70per cent of the miners have temporary contracts) is unsustainable and unions must urgently join efforts to concentrate on this issue.
The Minister of Labour addressed the Seminar and she took note of the participants' demands. Both unions committed to continue to put pressure on health and safety as one of their main priorities.