19 April, 2012Trade union and social movement leaders protest outside the offices of the Vale mining company in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They denounced the company's attitude to the environment and human rights and, after the death of two workers in Columbia, the lack of safety at the company's plants.
BRAZIL: Trade union and social movement leaders used the opportunity presented by Vale's annual meeting of shareholders to protest outside the company's offices on April 18 in the centre of Rio de Janeiro. Protestors displayed posters and handed out leaflets to the public explaining the reasons for the protest. The company is world champion when it comes to violating human rights and labour rights, as well as being responsible for serious damage to the environment in Brazil and elsewhere. The Brazilian transnational company was awarded the Public Eye prize for 2012 for causing the most harm to the environment and human rights.
Brazil's CNM/CUT and Canada's USW, unions affiliated to the IMF, participated in the demonstration. CNM/CUT General Secretary, João Cayres, who was attending an international event in Rio, communicated his confederation's solidarity with the protestors. "Brazilians are ashamed that Vale received the prize for the worst company in the world, because we are fighting so hard against the harmful actions of foreign multinationals and now a company that had been the pride of the country is doing the same things", said Cayres.
The protestors also denounced the workplace accidents that have caused the deaths of various workers. The most recent was on April 11, when two of Vale's workers in Colombia were killed and five injured when a crane collapsed. The crane was used for loading coal and mounted on an offshore platform at the company's port, located between Santa Marta and Ciénaga. Rafael Vásquez Vargas, 42, and Luis Cantillo Vargas, 41, were the victims of this workplace accident. The injured were Reiner Alfonso Suárez Rozo, Pedro Bustamante Calderón, Milton Cervantes García, Juan Alberto Pertuz Ballestas, Nadín Enrique González Góngora and Javier Jerónimo, who were taken to Ciénaga General Hospital.
The IMF was also present at the protest on April 18, organized by the unions that defend the interests of Vale's workers. João Cayres read out a letter from the IMF and the ICEM to the company, repudiating the Brazilian multinational's conduct.