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Global worker No1 2022

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	In calling attention to jobs creation as equivalent economic growth, working people across Europe on 29 February, led by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), manifested in a Day of Action against the European Council&rsquo;s adoption of a budget discipline treaty.

	The decentralised mobilisations occurred in scores of cities and worksites with a common theme pointed at EU governments and decision-makers: &ldquo;Enough is enough! There are alternatives to austerity. Employment and social justice are the number one priorities.&rdquo;

	The 29 February ETUC Day of Action took the form of demonstrations, work stoppages and information postings inside workplaces, as well as government institutions and stated that the European summit&rsquo;s Treaty on Stability, Co-ordination and Governance is a &ldquo;straightjacket&rdquo; that will plunge the Eurozone into free-fall recession.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 154px;height: 160px" width="390">&nbsp;

	The actions included two demonstrations in Brussels, site of the European Council&rsquo;s 1-2 March summit where the misguided treaty will intrinsically slash wages and social protections, restrict collective bargaining, and provide even more neo-liberal policies, hardly the remedies for economic growth to assure a sustainable future.

	Union leaders, led by ETUC General Secretary Bernadette S&eacute;gol, met 29 February with Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Parliament President Martin Schulz in Brussels, while a mass rally took place at the European Council building. Members of all Belgian trade unions united in protest on 29 February, and targeted their manifestation outside the Belgian National Bank.

	A sampling of other actions on 29 February included a mass demonstration organised by the Romanian national trade union centres at Victoria Square in Bucharest. In Rome, Italian labour federations CGIL, CISL and UIL demonstrated at Pantheon Place, while Hungarian trade unions held a press conference and manifestation.

	In Greece, trade unions undertook a three-hour work stoppage, while even in Georgia trade unions protested ETUC&rsquo;s Day of Action with a rally at Parliament in Tbilisi. This protest was against their government&rsquo;s utter failure to adopt a fair labour code, all the while developing trade with European markets.

	In the UK, British trade unions used the day to gear up their defense of the National Health Service (NHS), which happens massively today, 7 March, across Britain. Both the ETUC and Trades Union Congress (TUC) denounce austerity measures that &ldquo;fall hardest on the shoulders of the weakest&rdquo; when public services are slashed.

ETUC Holds Day of Protest against Europe’s ‘Straitjacket’ Treaty

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	With 95% approval yesterday, Local 27 members of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) ratified a closure agreement with Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), part of Caterpillar Inc.&rsquo;s Progress Rail Services, in London, Ontario. The sizeable financial settlement ends a morbid chapter of labour relations abuse by a company, and leaves an economic wound befitting the worst corporate ill-will that can be served up.

	The loss of 465 union jobs is tragedy enough in London, Ontario. EMD proposed in collective negotiations that CAW members reduce wages from C$35-per-hour to C$16-18, and give up a 50% equivalent of all benefits. When workers said no, on 1 January Caterpillar and EMD locked them off their jobs at a rail locomotive manufacturing plant.

	Thirty-four days later Caterpillar/EMD announced it would close the operation, move production to a start-up plant in the low-wage &ndash; US$12-16-an-hour &ndash; city of Muncie, Indiana, six hours to the south of London, where Caterpillar had already assembled a virulently anti-union management team.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" height="159" src="" width="156" />

	Ken Lewenza

	Angry Canadians could only beg the answer to the question: What are our federal and provincial governments doing on such brazen desecration of our manufacturing base. Caterpillar had bought the London plant in third quarter 2010 and it came with a bed of government tax breaks. Eighteen months later, the plant is shuttered and Canadian-made machinery and technical know-how is now leaving the country.

	CAW President Ken Lewenza said Canada is in desperate need of a manufacturing jobs strategy. He stated that the free movement of global capital from country to country must be stopped because it is undercutting workers&rsquo; wages.

	Severance packages exceeded what were required by law, partly driven by public indignation of Caterpillar&rsquo;s conduct and mostly by CAW&rsquo;s resolve to get the best possible close-out deals for workers. EMD workers will get three weeks&rsquo; pay for each year of service and a C$1,500 lump sum payment. (See the <a href="http://www.caw.ca/assets/images/EMC_RATIFICATION_(2).pdf">CAW closure agreement </a>here.)

	For one-third of the workforce, that means severance payments of 60 weeks&rsquo; pay or more, while many will average 20-25 weeks. Workers will gain a measure of extended health care coverage, their pension fund will be fully funded, and EMD agreed to settle all claims and grievances with CAW Local 27. That will amount to a C$350,000 payment to the union within 30 days of yesterday.

	Province of Ontario law says that workers with five years of work service must get one week&rsquo;s pay for each year worked, with a cap of 26 weeks. In a company statement on the closure and severance agreement, Caterpillar/EMD boasted that 75 workers, who would not receive pay-outs under the Ontario minimum, will do so now in the negotiated agreement.

	That hollow boast fades in juxtaposition to the wider swath of economic carnage Caterpillar has left on southwestern Ontario. Besides the 670 union, clerical and management direct jobs lost, CAW expects the plant closure to impact another 2,100 peripheral jobs.

	(See previous ICEM 2012 reports on Caterpillar in London, Ontario, <a href="-Caterpillar-to-Close-Canadian-Train-Locomotive-Plant">here</a>, <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4851-15-000-Manifests-for-Canadian-Auto-Workers-in-Lockout-By-Caterpillar">here</a>&nbsp;and <a href="/en/27-North-America/4823-CAW-Members-Victimized-in-Lockout-by-Caterpillar-s-Rail-Division">here</a>.)

Severance Deal Reached in Stained Caterpillar Rail Diesel Closure

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	The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) is demanding that labour and regulatory law in the province of Ontario be toughened in the wake of the social calamity perpetrated by Caterpillar Inc. in the recent lockout/closure of a rail electric diesel factory in the south-western provincial city of London.

	With that nearly all labour law in Canada is governed by the provinces, CAW demanded in a 29 February letter to Labour Minister Linda Jeffrey that Ontario toughen its labour statutes as remedy to lax investment regulations. Specifically, the CAW demands that more powers be granted the Ontario Labour Relations Board to stamp out bad-faith bargaining strategies.

	The CAW is campaigning for a stronger and more modernized labour code in Ontario because of Caterpillar&rsquo;s subsidiary, Electro-Motive Diesel, blackmailing workers and a community in choosing between non-liveable wages and a major plant closure. (See prior <a href="-Caterpillar-to-Close-Canadian-Train-Locomotive-Plant">ICEM report</a> here.)

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 145px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Ken Lewenza

	In the letter, CAW President Ken Lewenza said, &ldquo;The company&rsquo;s unjustifiable behaviour &ndash; and the resulting devastation now being brought to bear on workers and the community &ndash; has touched a nerve with Canadians and triggered broad public support.&rdquo;

	The CAW is proposing powers of expedited interest arbitration in pitched labour disputes, as well as new provisions to prevent employers from evading collective agreements by using a lockout.

	Also put forward is a ban on scab replacement workers during a dispute, and restoring workers&rsquo; plant closing rights to negotiate adjustment plans. The CAW also says fairness demands the lengthening of time for giving plant closing notice, and a minimum two weeks&rsquo; pay for each year of service, with elimination of the five-year service tie-in.

	The <a href="http://www.caw.ca/en/10986.htm">CAW letter</a> also calls for an Industrial Inquiry Commission, as stipulated in Section 37, Ontario Labour Relations Act, in order to investigate Caterpillar carnage on workers in the province and the city of London.

	&ldquo;The Caterpillar debacle demonstrates all too well the ease with which an employer can stall out the negotiation process, bargain in bad faith with impunity and manufacture a dispute in an attempt to evade contractual obligations,&rdquo; Lewenza stated.

	&ldquo;Caterpillar did not misjudge or misinterpret Ontario&rsquo;s labour laws; rather, they understood them all too well, and exploited the laws&rsquo; weaknesses as a key part of their overall strategy.&rdquo;

CAW Demands Change in Ontario’s Labour Laws

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A year ago tomorrow, 28 June, Honeywell Inc. ruthlessly locked 228 American steelworkers off their jobs at a uranium conversion plant in Metropolis, Illinois. Two days ago, on 25 June, those union members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 7-669, together with 800 supporters, held a one-year anniversary rally in the Metropolis town square. 
 
The mood was somber but angry due to Honeywell&rsquo;s economic stranglehold on workers&rsquo; lives, yet defiant mainly because the company has dared to risk the safety and well-being of 6,400 residents of this Ohio River city by operating the plant during the lockout. 
 
In Metropolis, Honeywell mills yellow-cake uranium into uranium hexafluoride (UF6) that is frozen and then sold to companies for nuclear power applications. For the past nine months, Honeywell has been using scabs provided by a contractor to do this dangerous work. 
<img src="" width="159" height="199" alt="" />
USW District 7 Director Jim Robinson
At Saturday&rsquo;s rally, workers and community members took notice once again to the dangers an outside workforce brings to their city: on 22 June, the US Labor Department&rsquo;s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) levied 17 serious workplace safety violations against the company and its scab workers. 
 
The violations stem from a 22 December 2010 release of hydrogen fluoride (HF) vapors. OHSA citations include failure to address human factors in operating valves on HF tanks, failure to establish written procedures to maintain the integrity of process equipment, failure to establish and implement written procedures to manage changes to process chemicals, equipment and procedures, and a deficient incident report that did not include factors contributing to the vapor release. The 17 violations mean US$119,000 in fines if Honeywell is unable to negotiate that amount downward. 
 
The 22 December HF vapor release was not the only time Honeywell has put the community at risk. On 5 September 2010, two days after the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission unbelievably gave approval for Honeywell to re-start the final two steps of a four-step uranium hexafluoride converting process, Metropolis was shook by a loud boom. 
 
Inside the plant, accumulated hydrogen reacted with fluorine gas during a venting process, causing the boom. Fortunately, the accident occurred in a non-regulated area of operation, meaning away from the handling of yellow cake uranium. 
 
For workers and community supporters who gathered Saturday, these incidents have become a daily reminder of the threats posed by a hugely profitable company as it unnecessarily tries to spiral downward work terms and conditions on a skilled and unionised workforce. 
<img src="" width="131" height="214" alt="" />
Metropolis, Illinois, is Concerned with Safety
To be sure, USW Local 7-669 and Honeywell would already have a new labour contract and experienced workers would have been back on the job if it had not been for the company reneging on a deal. In bargaining on 6 June, the two sides reached a compromise and a tentative agreement was imminent. Honeywell&rsquo;s negotiators said it would draft the agreed-upon language and formally present it the next day in talks. 
 
But on 7 June, the company withdrew bargaining table agreement from the day before to maintain overtime pay after eight and 12 hours worked, and returned to its original and regressive proposal of time-and-a-half pay only after 40 hours had been worked. Local 7-669&rsquo;s bargaining team already had made compromises to end the lockout. But Honeywell&rsquo;s bad-faith reversal meant the company was not ready for the lockout to end. 
 
The effect was another insult aimed at the community and at steelworkers of Local 7-669, who most assuredly will return &ndash; perhaps soon &ndash; to their jobs but with a bitter taste in their mouths about all things Honeywell. 
 
In the three weeks since the failed settlement, Honeywell has publicly chastised Local 7-669 for failing to provide the company with further bargaining dates. Local union President Darrell Lillie made it clear at the 25 June anniversary rally that Honeywell can now end the lockout with a telephone call or fax over the final conclusive issues. 
 
The overtime issue is foremost. Other issues to be resolved, but not considered deal threatening, are company insistence that workers who take Family and Medical Leave under the US federal statute, must concurrently take vacation leave; a different pension pan for future new hires; and company-paid meal allowance for staff who work overtime hours. 
 
At the Saturday, 25 June rally, headlined by USW District 7 Director Jim Robinson, who travelled seven hours together with steelworkers from Chicago and northern Indiana on buses to southern Illinois to support Local 7-669, Illinois state legislators Brandon Phelps and Gary Forby told the community that they will now commence hearings in the state capital of Springfield on Honeywell&rsquo;s reckless disregard for community safety. 
 
ICEM coverage of the US company&rsquo;s callous social conduct in its home country can be found at these four links: <a href="/en/3-Energy-Oil-and-Gas/4429-EMCEF-EMF-EPSU-Condemn-Honeywell-Lockout-in-US ">15 May 2011</a>, <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4120-Talks-Again-Fail-in-Honeywell-s-US-Lockout-of-Steelworkers ">29 November 2010</a>, <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4066-Talks-Fail-Between-USW-Honeywell-in-US-Uranium-Lockout ">18 October 2010</a>, <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3977-Lockout-of-USW-represented-Uranium-Processing-Plant-in-US-Continues ">6 September 2010</a>.

Steelworkers Mark Year-long Honeywell Lockout in US

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The&nbsp;ICEM today condemned the bad-faith bargaining strategy of BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) in coal talks in Australia. At the same time, it pledged full support to Queensland miners, who today commence a second justified set at industrial actions inside BMA&rsquo;s rich coking-coal mines of Queensland&rsquo;s Bowen Basin. 

The Geneva-based ICEM, representing 20 million workers globally, condemns BMA for side-stepping the Single Bargaining Unit (SBU) of 4,000 workers and attempting to justify its regressive workplace demands in the public arena. 

Three unions affiliated with the ICEM &ndash; Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU), and the Communications, Electrical, Plumbing Union (CEPU) &ndash; are legitimately enjoined as the SBU, but have seen BMA reject honest dialogue on major issues such as work rights, salaries, and social benefits for subcontract workers, and job security for Australian workers employed by BMA and legitimately represented by the three unions. 

BMA instead has flaunted its unwanted agenda in paid advertisements and shameless pay boasting in central and eastern Queensland. Because of this, the ICEM fully and unequivocally supports the 24 June second round of strike actions at BMA&rsquo;s seven mines and alerts miners and other workers of BMA that they have a firm global ally in the ICEM with their three unions. 

In a 22 June letter to leaders of the three unions, ICEM General Secretary Warda said: &ldquo;As miners and others in Queensland at BMA begin a second round of industrial actions this weekend, please extend to each and every one of them the principled Support and Solidarity of the ICEM and its family of 467 trade unions throughout the world. Let them know that the eyes of the global trade union movement are on their courageous fight to get a just and deserved enterprise labour agreement with BMA.&rdquo; See the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/63.ICEM.BMA.CFMEU,AMWU,ETU,CEPU.Australia.22June.pdf">full ICEM letter</a> here. 

The ICEM stands solidly behind BMA workers who begin lawful 12-hour rolling strikes tonight at BMA&rsquo;s Blackwater mine, and then Saturday and Sunday nights, 25-26 June, at Saraji, Norwich Park, Gregory Crinum, Peak Downs, and Goonyella Riverside mines. And the ICEM condemns the attack on the strike by BMA, as if it was illegitimate. It is not. 

The ICEM believes BMA&rsquo;s tactics reflect poorly on the joint venture&rsquo;s equal parents &ndash; BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi &ndash; and on BMA&rsquo;s standing in metallurgical coal markets. Following the breakdown of talks on 20-21 June, the ICEM will monitor this dispute and stands ready in the event it escalates.

ICEM Condemns Tactics of BHP Billiton, Mitsubishi in Australia Coal Talks

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The ICEM today expressed sadness and anger at the deaths of two members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 6500 in Sudbury, Ontario, on Wednesday night, 8 June. The two miners died 900 metres underground at Vale&rsquo;s Stobie nickel and copper mine when an overflow of broken rock, sediment, and water &ndash; known as muck &ndash; buried them. 
 
The miners were identified yesterday as Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26. The two men were operating a scooptram at the No. 7 ore pass inside Stobie. An ore pass is a junction where ore is dropped from one level to the next. Sixty miners were working in the mine on the night shift when the fatalities occurred. 
 
In a letter today to USW President Leo Gerard, himself a former mineworker in Sudbury, USW Canadian National Director Ken Neumann, and USW Local 6500 President Rick Bertrand, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda stated: &ldquo;It is a terrible tragedy and makes clear the inherent dangers for workers whose livelihoods are dependent on the mining industry. Please convey the sympathies of the entire ICEM global family of unions to the families of the two miners, as well as to all union members of Local 6500.&rdquo; (See the full <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/54.ICEM.USW.Sudbury%20Deaths.Canada.10June.pdf">ICEM letter</a> here.) 

<img alt="" src="" width="144" height="168" />
Vale&rsquo;s Stobie nickel and copper mine
The ICEM also noted that USW&rsquo;s expert team of safety and health investigators will probe the tragic circumstances to uncover what went wrong and to ensure a similar tragedy does not happen again. The ICEM stated the sad irony of the 8 June is that only eight days before the miners&rsquo; deaths, Vale was honoured with an award by the Canadian Institute of Mining as having the safest two metal mines in Canada. 
 
Although the mines receiving the award were at Vale&rsquo;s nickel operations in Thompson, Manitoba, mines from Sudbury won the same award consecutively from 2006 to 2009. 
 
In a statement, Local 6500 President Bertrand said, &ldquo;The Steelworkers will be involved in this investigation every step of the way. Once the investigation is complete we will work hard for the workplace to be restored to safe condition before it starts up again.&rdquo; 
 
The Stobie mine in Sudbury consists of two adjoining mines, an open cast one and an underground one where the tragedy occurred. Canada has not ratified ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention.

ICEM Saddened by Mine Deaths of Two Steelworkers at Vale in Sudbury, Canada

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Suez Environnement, a subsidiary of French-based GDF SUEZ, was hit with an OECD petition pursuant to the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises yesterday by ICEM affiliate Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA). The petition was for alleged environmental failures and unfair labour practice complaints issued by the US government against United Water, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Suez Environnement. 
 
GDF SUEZ is signatory to a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with three Global Union Federations (GUFs), including ICEM and Public Services International (PSI). Both ICEM and PSI have jointly criticised the parent company for the insolent social conduct of it&rsquo;s subsidiary in the US Suez Environnement is 35% held by GDF SUEZ. 
 
The US National Labour Relations Board authorised unfair labour practice complaints against United Water at two separate locations where the UWUA represents workers and is now negotiating with United Water over renewal agreements. The US agency&rsquo;s charge against management involves failure to provide relevant information to the union related to bargaining. 
 
United Water is demanding steep cuts in employee retirement benefits. Failure to adequately exchange information related to bargaining clearly violates Article 7 of the GDF SUEZ GFA, &ldquo;Respect for Trade Union Rights,&rdquo; which references transparency in labour-management forums. The agreement also refers to the OECD Guidelines and the ILO Tripartite Principles, both of which have clear language regarding exchange of information for &ldquo;meaningful negotiations&rdquo; in social partnerships. 
 
The GFA, signed in November 2010, covers all of the group&rsquo;s businesses, even ones in which the company holds a minority stake. In a letter last month to GDF SUEZ CEO G&eacute;rard Mestralett, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and PSI General Secretary Peter Waldorff said, &ldquo;The ICEM and PSI are angry and disappointed with the callousness, indifference, and negative conduct of United Water management in relation to the Global Framework Agreement and abidance to GDF SUEZ&rsquo;s core social principles.&rdquo;
<img alt="" src="" width="260" height="173" />
UWUA President Michael Langford&nbsp; 

The alleged environmental infractions also saw the GUFs take issue with United Water. In December 2010, the US government issued a criminal indictment charging that United Water intentionally manipulated E.coli bacteria monitoring tests at a wastewater treatment plant outside of Chicago. The indictment alleges that United Water engaged in a scheme in which it increased chlorine levels when government-mandated E.coli inspections took place, and then lowered input levels after as a costs-savings measure. The allegations, if proven true, stand as an obvious menace to public health. United Water has pleaded not guilty to the charges. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4208-US-Affiliate-UWUA-Challenges-GDF-SUEZ-Inside-Global-Agreement">ICEM report</a> on that here.) 
 
The UWUA symbolically filed the OECD petition yesterday, along with the American NGO Food and Water Watch, at the French embassy in Washington, DC, as well as to the US government&rsquo;s National Contact Point. UWUA Local 1-2 in New York City also distributed informational leaflets on United Water&rsquo;s detrimental conduct outside the French mission to the UN. Under the OECD complaint process, both the US and French governments are obligated to forward the submission to the French parent company and to the US subsidiary for a formal reply. 
 
UWUA President Michael Langford said, &ldquo;Utility workers have been astonished at the bad faith conduct of United Water in labour negotiations in the US.&rdquo;

US Utility Workers File OECD Complaint Against Suez Environnement

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Addressing the Plenary sitting of the 100th session of the International Labour Conference today, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda called for action on precarious work, workers' health and safety in the mining industry, and attention to the violation of rights of Holcim employees in India, as well as on abuses to glass workers in Mexico. 
 
Warda condemned the shocking attempt by Swiss-based cement multinational Holcim to crush the union representing its employees in India, with unsubstantiated claims leading to the 19 May arrest of union leaders engaged during a legal battle for the reinstatement of 80 members illegally sacked at the Holcim-ACC unit at Jamul.
Referring to the recent attempt of those outsourced workers to voice their concerns to the authorities, Warda continued, &ldquo;It is deplorable that Mr. Chandrashekhar Sahu, the Labor Minister of the State of Chhattisgarth of India, attending this Conference, refused to meet 250 Holcim workers who had walked long distances to appeal to him for observation of basic trade union rights.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="327" height="160" />
Warda called on governments and employers to move towards ratification and implementation of ILO Convention 176 and its associated Recommendation 183, on safety and health in mines. With Ukraine soon to become the 25th country to ratify the Convention, this represents far too few adoptions, while miners are continuing to be killed and injured every day around the world. 
 
Finally, Warda focussed on the ILO complaint&nbsp;No. 2774 by Mexican affiliated union SUTEIVP. The complaint is being fully supported by the ICEM, following a 2008 mass dismissal of hundreds of workers at Industria Vidriera del Potosi S.A., a manufacturer of glass bottles used by Corona beer. The sacked workers were covered by a collective bargaining agreement and included the executive committee of the SUTEIVP at the plant. A protection contract was then established by the employer. 
 
See the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ICEM_Manfred_Warda_ILC_Plenary_Speech%20_8_June%20FINAL.pdf">full text of the speech</a> here.

ICEM General Secretary Addresses International Labour Conference

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Some 10,000 workers employed at El Teniente by sub-contractors of Codelco, Chile&rsquo;s state-run copper and molybdenum miner, have been on strike now for 13 days. Even though the walkout falls outside Chile&rsquo;s labour law, the strike is legitimate: contract employees demand that Codelco engage their unions in direct dialogue. 
 
The strike started 25 May against over 20 contracting firms and Codelco. It is happening at El Teniente, one of five Codelco divisions, which is the world&rsquo;s largest underground copper mine located 90 kilometres south of Santiago. Contract workers at cleaning, catering, supply and other firms want a primary employer to come to the table to address failed bonus schemes, unpaid hours, no job security and other grievances. They also demand that there be no recriminations over strike actions, a clear sign of the fear, precariousness, and trade union discrimination at El Teniente. 
Codelco is standing by the &ldquo;acuerdo marco,&rdquo; or framework agreement of 2007 in maintaining it has no obligation to address grievances of contract workers. Codelco CEO Diego Hern&aacute;ndez said the company&rsquo;s legal responsibility ends at health and safety compliance, and social security compliance of the sub-contracting firms. Unions representing contract workers want a re-write of the marco agreement. 
<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="159" />
Contract Workers Strike at El Teniente
The job actions have gained the support of civic officials and political leaders in the region and the ICEM commends contract workers at El Teniente for taking direct action in an effort to get a primary company to address its concerns. 
 
The three branches of the Federaci&oacute;n de Trabajadores del Cobre (FTC) at El Teniente, representing 2,300 direct Codelco workers, issued a statement on 30 May, in part, stating that the Cobres federation &ldquo;has always maintained a stance of solidarity with the legitimate aspirations of the employees of sub-contractors. The FTC has been a key player to open talks between unions representing workers, contractors themselves, and the client company Codelco, in order to see positive agreements. 
 
&ldquo;The FTC expresses its solidarity with the contract workers and their representative trade union organizations, and we clearly do not support the manipulation and exploitation of a legitimate movement to promote interests other than that of workers.&rdquo; 
 
The dispute was peaceful during the first nine days of the strike, but turned unruly on Friday, 3 June, when contract workers blocked roads leading to the mine complex. The blockade caused buses carrying regular workers to be turned away. 
 
Codelco, the world&rsquo;s largest copper producer, saw its first quarter pre-tax profit balloon to US$2.31 billion due to high copper and molybdenum prices. That is an 87% increase over the same period in 2010 and is partially due to the state company&rsquo;s sell-off of its 40% share of electrical producer Edelnor. 
 
Separately, the Federaci&oacute;n de Sindicatos de Supervisores y Profesionales Rol A Codelco (FESUC), the supervisory and professional union federation at Codelco, charged that senior managers are transforming the company solely for the purpose of privatisation. This comes at a time when supervisors at some divisions are being furloughed without the option to transfer. 
 
FESUC President Ricardo Calder&oacute;n said layoffs, precarious employment, and outsourcing are the precursor for privatization, while another FESUC leader called on CEO Hern&aacute;ndez to publicly state the company would not be sold off to private investors.

Contract Workers Strike Codelco at El Teniente Mine in Chile

<img alt="" src="" width="180" height="55" />
On 24 February, Juan Linares was released after spending two years in jail. His release came just days after worldwide mobilization of unions in the 14-19 February global days of action demanding trade union rights in Mexico. Linares has been a member of SNTMMSRM (or Los Mineros) since 1972 as a mine worker at the ArcelorMittal Sicartsa steel mill. 
 
Why were you imprisoned and what was the impact of this on your union? 
 
I was imprisoned under false charges of fraud, on which no evidence was ever presented. This is clearly an anti-union measure taken by the government of Felipe Calder&oacute;n to undermine and attack the Miners' Union. There was an investigation and an audit was carried out which shows that there has been no embezzlement of funds at all. The anti-union attacks from the government have been constant, firstly starting with the accusations against the General Secretary Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia; secondly, the freezing of the bank account and thirdly, imprisoning me. This just serves the government&rsquo;s intention to finish off our union. 
 
How did you manage to secure your release after two years in jail? 
 
International support, particularly from the IMF, ICEM, AFL-CIO, and the United Steelworkers, that mobilized international opinion about my case and in particular the global days of action held in February had considerable impact on my release. I was imprisoned for two years, two months and 20 days. 
 
Is the government persecution of Los Mineros continuing? 
 
Yes, the government continues daily to persecute Los Mineros and this is because it is a right wing government. This already started in the time of Vicente Fox and is now continuing with Felipe Calder&oacute;n. Persecution is particularly harsh from the Minister of Labour. 
 
What is the situation for Los Mineros and the independent trade union movement in Mexico today? 
 
I think that things are slowly improving. The questions that we are discussing today on the merger at the global level will be particularly beneficial for Mexico. For example, another union under attack - SME - will soon be together with us and I think that we could achieve a really strong and independent labour movement in Mexico. 
 
How can international solidarity support Los Mineros and other independent unions in your struggle? 
 
One thing in which we need the support from the international organizations is to be able to continue organizing and recruiting new members in our union and that is what we would ask the international organizations to which we are affiliated. I also would like to share with you my great joy because we just heard on 25 May that our leader Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez has now been cleared of all accusations against him and we are looking forward to having him back with us in Mexico and to continue our struggle. We believe that the union movement in Mexico is really advancing.

Interview: Juan Linares, National Mexican Mine and Metal Workers Union (SNTMMSRM)

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