Labour

Focus on Mining Giant Vale at World Social Forum

At the invitation of Brazilian activists who are supporting communities struggling against multinational mining giant Vale (formerly Companhia Vale do Rio Doce) in Brazil, and with support from the Steelworkers Humanity Fund and the Canadian Auto Workers Social Justice Fund, MiningWatch’s Catherine Coumans attended the World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil in January 2009. Catherine was asked to provide local activists with information about relations between Vale and communities in Canada (Port Colborne and Sudbury in Ontario as well as Labrador), Indonesia and New Caledonia. In each of these places Inco (now owned by Vale and operating as a subsidiary, Vale Inco) is facing serious community concerns and criticism of its operations.

Urgent Appeal: Write to Barrick Gold to Protest Refusal to Reinstate Union Leader

UPDATEAfter 2-day strike in the Veladero mine (December 17-18, 2009) OSMA-CTA (Organización Sindical de Mineros Argentinos) and Barrick Gold in Argentina signed a historic agreement on Jan. 12, 2010.

Sudbury Vale Inco Workers Striking to Maintain Hard-Won Benefits

United Steel Worker Union members from Sudbury, Ontario, are on strike to protect important, hard-won benefits including pensions and the "nickel bonus". The bonus is a profit sharing mechanism paid  when nickel prices are high. Despite making substantial profits in recent years, the company is claiming that its Sudbury operations are not sustainable. Vale Inco staff are on record as saying they want to harmonize labour benefits across their global operations.

BHP-Billiton Recognizes Diamond Workers

Submitted by Alternatives North.

What is BHP-Billiton so afraid of? That’s the question Mining Watch’s Joan Kuyek asked recently in Yellowknife, NWT, while speaking about the strike at the Australian mining giant’s Ekati diamond mine, 300 kilometres north of the city.

Urgent Need to Investigate Respiratory Impairment of Hemlo Miners

Almost five years after the Globe and Mail published a full page story that raised an alarm about silicosis among gold miners in the Hemlo Camp in northern Ontario, little has changed. The Occupational Health Clinic for Ontario Workers explains silicosis this way: “Breathing dust containing free ...

EMCBC Mining and the Environment Primer: Labour

Mine workers and their families are among the first to feel the impact of poorly designed mines. Over the years, labour activism has been the most important force in improving the safety of the mine environment. The long and often bloody history of mining (from the assasinated union organizer Ginger Goodwin to the recent Westray disaster) has produced some strong and ...

Colombia Dismantles State Mining Company to Destroy Union, Open Way for Transnational Corporations

President Alvaro Uribe Vélez moved to liquidate the State Mining Company of Colombia, Minercol Ltda., through Decree 254 of January 28, 2004 - at the same wiping out its employees' union Sintraminercol and clearing the way for the wholesale turnover of the exploration, exploitation and administration of mineral, energy, and public resources to multinational corporations. The ...

Declaration on the Investment of Multinational Corporations in Colombia and Against the Elimination of MINERCOL, the State Mining Company of Colombia

We, the citizens of the world, have been informed by the workers affiliated to SINTRAMINERCOL-FUNTRAENERGETICA-CUT of the results of their study, titled Large-Scale Mining in Colombia: The Profits of Extermination, and of the decision of President Alvaro Uribe Vélez to liquidate the State Mining Company of Colombia, Minercol Ltda., through Decree 254 of January 28, 2004.

Bitter Strike Ends at Black Hawk's El Limón Gold Mine in Nicaragua

On January 14, 2003, Triton Minera S. A., a 95% owned subsidiary of Black Hawk Mining signed a new two-year agreement with the Union "Pedro Roque Blandon" representing the workers at its El Limón Mine in Nicaragua. Workers had been without a contract since October, 2001. The signing of the new agreement brings an end to a series of ...

Drummond Reneges on Security Promises to Colombian Coal Miners Union After Murders

by J. MacNeil On March 12, 2001 the President and Vice-President of the union local representing workers at the Drummond mine at La Loma, Cesar, Colombia, were murdered after several months of conflict between the union and the company. The interview below was conducted in early May with a member of the union executive of the El Paso Local of Sintramienergética, representing ...