Labour

CSR Counsellor Fails in First Attempt to Resolve Dispute as Excellon Resources Abandons Dialogue
Thursday, October 27, 2011

Press Release: Canada’s Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor has failed in her first attempt to resolve a conflict with a Canadian mining company operating beyond our borders. The refusal of Excellon Resources Inc. (TSX: EXN) to participate in a dialogue process under Canada’s CSR Counsellor for the Extractive Sector underlines the serious difficulties facing workers and communities abroad in dealing with Canadian mining companies and underscores the inadequacy of this complaint mechanism.

Corporate Accountability, Corporate Social Responsibility, Mexico, Labour, Excellon
Canadian Mining and the Costs to Workers: Notes on the El Cubo/Local 142 Strike, 2010-2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Anthropologist Elizabeth Ferry reviews what took place during a recent strike at the El Cubo mine owned by Canada's AuRico Gold (formerly named Gammon Gold) near Guanajuato, Mexico. While the strike has now been resolved and most of the workers are back at work, the strike raised important issues about labour relations between Canadian mining companies and workers and surrounding communities.

Corporate Accountability, Corporate Social Responsibility, AuRico Gold/Gammon Gold, Mexico, Impact on Communities, Labour
Newfoundland and Labrador Mineral Strategy
Monday, May 2, 2011

In February 2011 the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) began a process to develop a mineral strategy for the province. This is a welcome initiative as the last comprehensive policy review for the mineral sector was in the 1970s. As a starting point the government released a discusion paper and then hosted a number of community consultations and two themed workshops. MiningWatch participated in a workshop titled Environment Sustainable Mining held in St. John's on April 7 and submitted written comments on April 14.

Abandoned Mines, Newfoundland & Labrador, Reforming Mining Laws and Policies, Economics & Taxation, Environment, Free Entry/Land Access, Indigenous Rights, Labour, Parks and Protected Areas, Uranium, Water and fisheries
Vale’s Billion Dollar Bonus – Another Example of EDC’s Faulty CSR
Monday, November 15, 2010

On October 4, 2010, Export Development Canada (EDC) announced that it would provide up to a billion dollars in loans to international mining giant Vale. Half of the amount is targeted to projects at former Inco facilities in Canada; the other half will be available for operations outside Canada but that use Canadian goods and services, or to support exports involving Canadian suppliers.

Corporate Accountability, Corporate Social Responsibility, Labour, Vale (incl. Inco)
Focus on Mining Giant Vale at World Social Forum
Tuesday, January 5, 2010

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 Foru

Goro and Prony, INCO in Sulawesi, Labrador, Sulawesi, Brazil, Indonesia, Newfoundland & Labrador, New Caledonia, Ontario, Health, Labour, Newsletter 27: Winter 2009-2010, Vale (incl. Inco)
Urgent Appeal: Write to Barrick Gold to Protest Refusal to Reinstate Union Leader
Wednesday, December 23, 2009

UPDATE: After 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.

Argentina, Barrick Gold, Labour
Sudbury Vale Inco Workers Striking to Maintain Hard-Won Benefits
Tuesday, August 18, 2009

United Steel Workers (USW) 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 to Vale Inco mine workers 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.

Ontario, Labour, Vale (incl. Inco)
BHP-Billiton Recognizes Diamond Workers
Wednesday, July 19, 2006

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.

Northwest Territories, Diamonds, BHP-Billiton, Newsletter 22: Spring 2006, Labour
Urgent Need to Investigate Respiratory Impairment of Hemlo Miners
Saturday, April 8, 2006
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 ...
Barrick Gold, Health, Newsletter 21: Winter 2005-2006, Labour, Teck
EMCBC Mining and the Environment Primer: Labour
Friday, March 31, 2006
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 ...
Primer on Mining and the Environment, Labour

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