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<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
On 21 November, over 900 New Zealand miners, members of the Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) at four Solid Energy mines, dropped their strikes and returned to work following stoppages that lasted as long as 26 days. They quit the strikes in order to start good faith bargaining efforts toward a new labour accord with the state-owned company and its mining contractors. 
 
Talks between EPMU and management parties began later that day. But those talks aimed at ending an eight-month impasse failed and over the past week, one by one, collieries staffed by EPMU miners have taken votes to resume the strikes. 
 
At issue are changes in shift rotations without adequate compensation, as well as an across-the-board national pay proposal by Solid Energy and its contractors amounting to 2% for 2010 and 3% in 2011. The offer also includes a one-off NZ$2,000 bonus, based on the company’s record 2008 profits. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NewZealand.png" width="250" height="115" alt=""/>
The proposed pay package is inadequate, but EPMU members are particularly dissatisfied with the terms attached to the roster changes and increased work hours. At some mines, production workers are being asked to work ten hours per day, while maintenance workers are being asked to work 12-hour shifts. 
 
As was the case in late October, industry actions last week began on the North Island. The 120 miners at the Huntly East colliery near Rotowaro went on strike first. And despite staff of mining contractor HWE Mining Ltd. at the Rotowaro open pit mine accepting the proposal, a strike there continued in sympathy with the Huntly East miners. 
 
On 26 November, 500 EPMU miners at the Stockton mine on the South Island voted to strike. That work stoppage was expected to start over the weekend. Workers at the Spring Creek mine at the South Island will vote this week on whether or not to strike. 
 
The labour dispute has become deeply pitched, partly due to management’s public posturing and statements denigrating the EPMU, but mostly due to coal deposits at Rotowaro nearing exhaustion and Solid Energy and RWE Mining seeking heightened production with longer work hours. That has caused the sympathy strikes at the other mines, a credit to the solidarity of EPMU miners. But as well, all unionized miners of Solid Energy have been without current labour agreements since 30 March 2009.

Strikes Resume at New Zealand’s State-Run Solid Energy Mines

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With pressures mounting on Brazilian-based Vale to return to bargaining in the Canadian nickel strike now entering its sixth month, the company and United Steelworkers (USW) are fighting battles in the courtroom and before the public in what has become a pitched, bitter dispute between working-class Canadians and a rich, profitable multinational. 
 
If the public war of words over who first must amend its position so bargaining can resume is not enough, the two sides are now belligerent combatants in face-to-face side dramas, including changes to a picket line protocol agreement and grievances and unfair work practices before the Ontario Labour Relations Board. The latter is over Vale’s intent to make non-striking USW members perform struck work. 
 
Canadian management of Vale has also deployed divide-and-conquer tactics by trying to drive a wedge between striking steelworkers, as well as giving the false public perception that its social rollback proposals to USW branch unions are a necessary ingredient to sustainable mining in Canada. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0909sudbury.jpg" width="260" height="195"/>
Some 3,250 miners and metalworkers went on strike at Vale’s nickel mining, smelting, and processing operations in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario, on 13 July 2009, while another 350 copper and nickel miners from Goose Bay and Voiseys Bay, Labrador, joined the strike on 1 August. Vale, which bought Canada-based Inco’s assets late in 2006, is seeking to strip away a production bonus from Canadian steelworkers, impose a two-tiered pension plan, and gain contract language to allow it greater flexibility on using sub-contractors, which ultimately jeopardizes job security and the sustainable future of workers themselves. 
 
For ten weeks now, Vale has made threatening moves that it would re-start production at its mines and processing facilities in northern Ontario near Sudbury, something never before done in a labour dispute at Sudbury. The company most recently posted notices that it will re-start the massive Copper Cliff smelter using a selected contractor. 
 
The union has filed an unfair labour practice with the Ontario labour board because Vale insists on using USW Local 2020 members – clerical, admin, and technical workers – to perform mining and processing work. Local 2020 itself has filed serious safety grievances against Vale for assigning its members work they are not trained for. 
 
A picket-line protocol agreement signed on 29 July has been a subject of contention, primarily due to Vale’s desire to amend it. The company wants to include in the protocol the transfer of buses carrying replacement workers across strike lines. This courtroom conflict also involves how long USW Local 6500 strikers can delay vehicles upon entry to company property, as well as lesser issues such as Vale’s failure to supply strikers’ firewood, as stipulated in the original agreement. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0908.usw.canada.png" width="347" height="138"/>
Those and other picket-line issues are before an Ontario Superior Court justice, who is expected to rule on revised picket-line conduct before the end of December. 
 
Vale has also made an overture to the 200 USW Local 6200 members in Port Colborne, 400 kilometres south of Sudbury, to resume negotiations without Local 6500. This move is a blatant effort to divide the two workforces. Locals 6500 and 6200 share the same labour agreement. Local 6200 President Wayne Rae says separating the two workforces will never happen. 
 
And last week, Vale’s Canadian managers circumvented official union structures by sending a letter directly to all workers on strike. The letter urged workers to call on their unions to return to bargaining and accept Vale’s concessions because the company intends “moving ahead on business,” meaning a return to production using replacement workers and contractors. 
 
The USW responded in an 11 December press release, stating that it has already put forth a good-faith invitation to Vale to return to talks under no pre-conditions. "We are publicly reiterating our position today because Vale's letter attempts to misrepresent our willingness to resume meaningful discussions," read the statement. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0912.USW.Sudbury.png" width="284" height="113"/>
"We are ready and willing to get back to the bargaining today, unconditionally. Given the impact this dispute is having on our working families and our community as a whole, it is incumbent on the union and the company to drop all preconditions and start talking to each other again. 
 
"Unfortunately, Vale Inco continues to stick by its preconditions and its argument that it needs concessions to maintain its 'sustainability,' when its demands such as cutting the nickel bonus do not affect its sustainability whatsoever. Vale had to win a bidding war to purchase this profitable company. Inco made profits each year with nickel prices lower than today's. Vale has reaped huge profits under the current contract. No one can say Sudbury's rich nickel mines are not sustainable." 
 
USW branch locals in Ontario and Labrador have been buoyed by a private member’s bill in the Canadian Parliament by MP Claude Gravelle. The proposed legislation would give transparency to all deals made within the Investment Canada Act, a haunting lesson on democracy to many Canadians since details between the federal government and Vale were kept secret when the company bought Inco. 
 
Gravelle has also submitted two additional bills aimed at making public all facts surrounding Vale’s purchase of Inco and Xstrata’s buy-up of Canadian-based Falconbridge, a deal that also included valuable copper-nickel assets in northern Ontario. 
 
For Sudbury Local 6500, the 3,100-member union continues promoting solidarity within its own ranks through unity, fraternity, and an acute community awareness that says successfully resisting Vale’s take-aways is the real path for a sustainable future. 
 
From 10 to 15 December, Local 6500 embarked on a Week of Action that include several activities in Sudbury. Those activities included a 10 December, International Human Rights Day candlelight vigil and march done in unison with the Sudbury District Labour Council of the Canadian Labour Congress. The next day, 11 December, students and the faculty union association of nearby Laurentian University conducted “Out of the Classroom and Onto the Picket Lines,” in which class sessions were moved to the picket lines of the Copper Cliff smelter in order to study the causes and effects of the strike. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/US.USW.jpg" width="124" height="59"/>
A Families Supporting the Strikers’ fundraiser was held on the weekend, 12-13 December, while a Steelworker Solidarity Support caravan from Toronto also visited picket lines on 13 December. Today, 14 December, union veterans and retirees will conduct a symposium entitled “Lessons From the Past – What We Have Won,” complete with reflections on a strike in 1978 and the necessity to retain what has already been gained. 
 
And tomorrow, 15 December, Local 6500 members and their families will hold a “Fair Deal for Our Families” march and manifestation at Vale-Inco’s Copper Cliff offices. 
 
On 3 December, in another outpouring of support for the striking Canadian miners, scores of members from the US-based union Unite-Here joined Local 6500 and Local 6200 members who bused to New York City to protest an award by the Business Council for International Understanding to Roger Agnelli, Vale’s CEO. 
 
The joining of hands by Unite-Here, who recently returned to the AFL-CIO, with the USW was symbolic of renewed unity inside the American trade union movement, solidarity now extending into Canada. 
 
The ICEM has been joined by the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) in waging a global campaign in support of Canadian miners. The miners’ own English-language website gives complete and up-to-date details of the bitter strike. It can be found <a href="http://www.fairdealnow.ca">here</a>.

USW, Vale Spar Over Picket Line, Scab Threats in Canadian Nickel Strike

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The International Textiles, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF) held its Tenth World Congress in Frankfurt, Germany, from 2-4 December. The ITGLWF adopted several major decisions regarding the coming work re-organization. The theme of this Tenth Congress was “Organise = Decent Work = Decent Life,” and it brought together 214 delegates from 97 trade unions in 68 countries. 
 
It also paid moving tribute to the necessary humanitarian contributions made by the late ITGLWF General Secretary, Neil Kearney. Kearney’s daughters were at the Congress and told of their father. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0912.itglwf.2.png" width="179" height="135"/>
Neal Kearney’s daughters, Nicole and Caroline
The Congress was hosted by IG Metall at its Frankfurt headquarters. 
The Congress took place just two weeks after General Secretary Neil Kearney died from a heart attack while doing important ITGLWF work in Bangladesh. The global trade union movement was shocked and saddened. Kearney, the ITGLWF General Secretary for the past 21 years, performed some of the toughest and most meaningful work in the world. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ITGLWF100.jpg" width="100" height="100"/>
The Frankfurt Congress confirmed the appointment of Patrick Itschert as the new General Secretary. Itschert has led the European regional organization of ETUC:TCL, for nearly two decades. He will continue in both roles. 
 
Congress unanimously elected Hisanobu Shimada of Japan as the organisation’s new president. Hisanobu Shimada is the General Secretary of ITGLWF affiliate UI Zensen. Outgoing president Manfred Schallmeyer of IG Metall received a special message of appreciation from Congress, for his work during the past five years as president. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0912.itglwf.png" width="142" height="193"/>
Manfred Schallmeyer hands over the presidency to Hisanobu Shimada 
The ITGLWF’s Congress elected fifteen Vice-Presidents, eight of whom are women, and formally approved the membership of the Executive Committee. 
 
The future of the ITGLWF was a major issue on the agenda. Congress recognised the need for a powerful trade union force across manufacturing industries, in response to corporate restructuring and obvious synergies created within the continual overlaps of the world’s manufacturing sectors. The ITGLWF Congress resolved that the Global Union Federation make all necessary efforts to ensure the creation of a new GUF for manufacturing, and that it be concluded no later than 2011.

Memories, Accomplishments of Neil Kearney Cited at ITGLWF Congress

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
Industrial action that was to begin today at a pulp and paper mill in the UK has been cancelled because progress was made in redundancy consultation talks last Friday, 11 December. Paperworkers who are members of Unite the Union voted 226 to 30 for industrial action, after Iggesund Paper – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swedish Holmen Paper – announced unilateral job cuts in early November. 
 
Iggesund, operating a softwood pulp mill and paperboard mill in Cumbria, sought to cut 99 of 480 jobs at the facility. Following the announcement, local managers said there was no need for consultation. UK law states that redundancies of less that100 workers must be preceded by a 30-day union-management consultation period, while jobs cuts totaling over 100 workers must see a 90-day consultation. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/paper%20logo.jpg" width="300" height="81"/>
External pressure and the overwhelming vote for industrial action convinced management to discuss its reasons for the redundancies. Peter Ellis, a Unite the Union National Secretary, reported that Friday’s talks between the union and Iggesund reduced the number of job cuts by five, with the potential for possibly saving more jobs to occur in coming consultation sessions. 
 
In the lead-up to the industrial ballot, the ICEM delivered nearly 100 messages of support from global pulp and paper unions to Unite the Union, messages that were distributed on the shop floor of the paper company.

Industrial Action at Iggesund Paper Mill in UK Suspended

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Industrial Union TEAM is the new name, effective on 1 January 2010, of the merged Chemical Workers’ Union (Kemianliito), an ICEM affiliate, and the Finnish Media Union. The merger of the two is the product of a larger, six-union merger of Finnish industrial unions that failed to materialize in spring 2009. 
 
Kemianliitto and the Media Union, which represents workers in the graphical, print, and print delivery sections, committed to continue union merger talks following the breakdown of the larger merger. By the end of summer holidays, 2009, committees and an organizational structure were in place to complete to merger. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Finland.kemianliito.jpg" width="106" height="71" alt=""/>
On 13 November, an extraordinary Congress of the Media Union approved the merger, while on 26-27 November, the General Council of Kemianliitto gave its consent. Kemianliitto President Timo Vallittu will lead Industrial Union TEAM, and the merged union will have a 20-member governing body. 
 
The merged union numbers 68,000, a figure that includes retirees. Kemianliitto comes in to the merger with some 31,000 active members, while the Media Union brings 14,000. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0912.finnish.media.union.logo.jpg" width="63" height="85" alt=""/>
The larger Finnish industrial merger, in talks dating back two years, was proposed between Kemianliitto and the Media Union, as well as including ICEM-affiliated Electrical Workers’ Union, the Finnish Metalworkers Union, the Wood and Allied Workers’ Union, and the Finnish Railwaymen’s Union. In spring 2009, the Electrical Workers’ dropped from talks, while a short time later the Metalworkers’ withdrew from participating by action of its Congress.

Kemianliitto and Media Union Become Finnish TEAM, 1 January

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A subsidiary of Russian multinational RuSAL, the world’s largest producer of aluminium and a major mining house in key resources, has terminated a labour agreement for 600 Guyanese workers over a wage dispute. Rusal announced it no longer recognizes the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers’ Union, something illegal under Guyana’s law and deeply condemned by the ICEM. 
 
General Manager of the Guyanese subsidiary, Sergey Kostyuk, sent a letter to Union President Charles Sampson, stating that the collective agreement between the two entities, and through the Labour Ministry, was “terminated with immediate effect.” 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector4.jpg" width="120" height="114" alt=""/>
Guyana’s Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir reacted by ordering mandatory arbitration, citing the importance of the bauxite industry to the economy of the country. The Bauxite and General Workers’ Union began a lawful strike on 21 November and that strike is on-going, thus hampering production at a processing plant. 
The union called the strike when RuSAL managers failed to give a promised 10% pay raise to workers in Berbice, located in the centre of Guyana. RuSAL also angered workers and their union by sacking 56 for “insubordination, refusal to obey instructions and misconduct,” a dubious charge considering workers were engaged in a lawful strike action. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Guyana.png" width="250" height="115" alt=""/>
A Guyanese political party, Working People’s Alliance (WPA), has intervened by pressuring the government to protect the workers’ constitutional rights. WPA stated that the conflict has “grave implications for the entire trade union movement in Guyana,” if RuSAL Bauxite Company of Guyana (BCGI) is not stopped in its total disregard for trade union rights. 
 
The ICEM condemns RuSAL for its ignorance of essential global labour standards and for the negative influence this conduct brings to Guyanese labour relations. The ICEM is calling on RuSAL to reinstate the discharged workers at its bauxite plant and to immediate adopt better industrial relations practices in Guyana.

RuSAL’s Labor Conduct in Guyana’s Bauxite Industry Strongly Questioned 

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In Hobart, Tasmania, the Construction, Forestry, Mining, And Energy Union (CFMEU) and Belgian-based lead and zinc producer Nyrstar NV agreed to a 14-day cooling down period last week following escalated industrial tensions that included the threat of a lock-out under Australian’s Fair Act by the company. 
 
Nyrstar operates a 300-worker zinc smelter in Hobart and exports some 250,000 tonnes of zinc cathode annually from Tasmania. The two parties resume negotiations under the supervision of Fair Work Australia, the government’s new labour dispute agency. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/AustraliaFLAG.gif" width="160" height="80" alt=""/>
The dispute flared in mid-December when some workers opted to take lawful industrial actions, including work bans and other stoppages. Strikes occurred on December 19 and December 24. Nyrstar immediately responded by issuing letters to strikers stating they would face a 16-day lockout, while another letter to those not striking stated that implementation of partial work bans will be construed as refusal to do any work, thus staff will not be paid at all. 
 
The central issue in the Nyrstar Australian dispute is the company insistence to continue a performance-based pay system, while the CFMEU and another workplace representative is seeking renewal of an enterprise agreement that contains automatic and set pay increases. The current operating enterprise contract expired three years ago, with no accord reached in that time period. 
 
Nyrstar was formerly a joint venture between Belgian metals and chemicals company Umicore and Australian mining and development company Zinifex Ltd. It was spun off into a separate company in late 2007 and wholly owns GM-Metal of France and 25% of Thailand’s Padaeng Industry Public Company Ltd. Zinifex remains Nyrstar’s primary source for raw zinc, while Umicore is a main buyer of Nyrstar’s processed zinc. Globally, Nyrstar also processes some copper, gold, indium, and refined silver.

CFMEU, Zinc Smelter Nyrstar Take ‘Cool Down’ Time in Australia

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBriefAlert.jpg" width="135" height="66" alt=""/>
The ICEM supports the ITUC-led trade union appeal for victims of the earthquake disaster in Haiti. The trade union relief work is being carried out primarily by ITUC’s affiliates in the Dominican Republic, in cooperation with Haitian colleagues across the border. 
 
We urge ICEM affiliates to support this Appeal. 
 
Funds for the appeal can be transferred to the following ITUC bank account: 
No. 375-1008200-61 
Banque ING, Brussels Branch Institutionals, 1 rue du Trone, B-1000 Brussels 
Code IBAN: BE 62375100820061 
Code BIC/Swift: BBRUBEBB 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ITUC100.jpg" width="100" height="95" alt=""/>
The ITUC requests that the words “SOS Solidarity – Haiti” are included with each transfer to this account. 
 
ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder has called for the cancellation of Haiti’s debt, in the aftermath of the disaster, to increase the country’s chances of reconstruction. 
 
As has been widely reported in the mainstream media, the huge earthquake hit Haiti on 12 January, and was followed by a number of aftershocks. Along with the reported death toll of over 100,000, Haiti’s infrastructure has been severely damaged, with many buildings and roads completely destroyed. The humanitarian situation is desperate and aid is needed. 
 
Once the immediate humanitarian effort passes, the solidarity campaign will continue to use funds raised to help Haitians in their recovery from this natural disaster.

ICEM Urges Haitian Relief Funds through ITUC

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Negotiations between United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9508 and Brazilian mining company Vale broke off late last night, 24 January, in St. John, Newfoundland, in failed efforts to end the 25-week strike by 250 union members at Goose Bay and Voiseys Bay, Labrador. Three days of steady talks over the weekend, guided by a provincial mediator from Newfoundland/Labrador, failed to bring the two sides any closer to terms. 
 
Meanwhile, 3,100 striking Steelworkers marked six months on picket lines opposite Vale in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario, a fortnight ago. The company, on 19 January, upheld its promise to re-start the Copper Cliff nickel smelter using managers and replacement workers to fire one of two furnaces. 
 
In eastern Canada, an announcement a week ago that the first full round of negotiations since February 2009 would begin on 22 January brought hope that copper, nickel, and cobalt mining in Goose Bay, as well as operations at a slurry facility in Voiseys Bay would resume. Vale had submitted the framework of an agreement ten days ago, but this past weekend’s bargaining proved Vale is seeking the same set of concessions. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0910.vale.ship.2.jpg" width="257" height="233"/>
Hong Kong flagged ship operators receive Voiseys Bay Petition, 9 October 2009
“The company here still insists on removing the nickel bonus and they didn’t deal at all with our issues,” lead negotiator and USW District 6 Representative Boyd Bussey told the ICEM Sunday evening. “If Vale thought they were picking off a weak link in this strike, they were wrong. We’ll be on picket lines until we get a good deal.” 
 
The key item that separated the two sides in talks remains Vale’s insistence on removing the nickel bonus, a wage supplement that is tied to the rise and fall of the market price of nickel. Contract language, monetary issues, and a company demand to give it more latitude on use of temporary workers also separates the two sides. Local 9508 is an amalgamated USW branch union with five units, three – miners, catering staff, and security – that have been on strike against Vale since 1 August 2009. Another unit, a Vale sub-contracted group of port workers employed by an Aboriginal-owned company called TSI, has a separate labour agreement expiring early in 2010. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0910.vale.ship.1.jpg" width="290" height="218"/>
The focus will now be on whether or not Vale will restart copper and nickel mining in Goose Bay using replacement workers. The speculation is that Vale needs nickel concentrates to feed its smelting operations in Thompson, Manitoba, as well as nickel for the re-start of Copper Cliff, where USW Local 6500 is on strike. The company might also be expected to capitalize on high copper prices, with the high-grade red metal mined and processed in the maritime province moved to market. In 2008, the company produced 77,500 tonnes of contained nickel and 55,400 tonnes of high-grade copper concentrates from its Vale-Inco Newfoundland and Labrador operations. 
 
The start-up of the Copper Cliff smelter was long advertised by the company. Operation of one of two furnaces at Copper Cliff, however, is not expected to give Vale anywhere near 50% of smelting capacity from the Sudbury-area facility. Vale is getting minimal production from two of six mines in northern Ontario, as well as token output from its Claribelle refining operation. 
 
On 13 January, the six-month mark of the strike in Sudbury and Port Colborne, the USW filed a bad-faith bargaining complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board in Toronto on Vale-Inco’s entrenched negotiations stand. Included in that complaint is an internal June 2009 Vale document that the company intends to pare mining jobs in northern Ontario, as well as strategically mine only high-grade ore from the region, thus reducing life expectancy of nickel reserves. The USW believes this indicates Vale is not managing the province’s reserves in the long-term best interests of workers and rural communities. 
 
On the six-month anniversary of the Ontario mining strike, over 1,000 miners and their families marched and manifested in Sudbury. The event included an environmentally-friendly balloon release, with each balloon set aloft representing C$4 million of Vale’s profits that has fled from Canada. 
 
The ICEM, together with the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), will continue ratcheting up pressure on the Brazilian company so that Vale returns to bargaining tables both in Labrador/Newfoundland and Ontario with fair contract offers. The USW Local 6500 strike website can be found here <a href="http://www.fairdealnow.ca">www.fairdealnow.ca</a>.

Talks Prove Futile in Ending Vale’s Eastern Canada Mine Strike

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The Guyana Bauxite & General Workers’ Union (GB&GWU) is seeking justice against the union-smashing affront by Russian metals company RusAL, the world’s second largest aluminum producer. The union has filed a racial discrimination complaint over RusAl’s sacking of 57 union activists, a move made necessary when neither the prime minister nor the minister of Labour, Human Services, and Social Security intervened to protect Guyana’s labour law. 
 
The dispute started in November 2009, following pay talks between GB&GWU and RusAl, the 90% owner of Bauxite Co. of Guyana Inc. (BCGI) at the Aroaima and Kwakwani mines in central Guyana. RusAl managers submitted three counter-proposals for the workforce of 500 to consider, and after miners voted to accept one, the company rescinded it and announced on 1 December that it no longer recognized GB&GWU, a blatant violation of the Trade Union Recognition Act. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Guyana.png" width="220" height="101"/>
Allegedly, the company subsequently said at a workplace meeting that those responsible for promoting the accepted offer would be the first in line for retrenchments. BCGI had hoped to tie a wage increase with some 70 redundancies, a counter-proposal that miners did not accept. 
 
Miners began a lawful strike on 21 November at the Aroaima mine. Three days into the strike, BCGI issued letters of termination to 57 strike leaders, all African descendants. Despite several urgent calls and letters to government officials to press RusAl on the law infractions, very little has been done. The discharge letters judged the workers “insubordinate, refusing to obey instructions” and guilty of “misconduct.” 
 
The race charge was heard before the Ethnic Relations Commission on 8 January. The GB&GWU is asking the commission to convene a full public inquiry into the alleged discriminatory sackings because a “bilateral initiative … to engage the union; then engage the company; then engage the Minister … will not work.” 
 
An 8 January letter by the union and the 57 discharged miners to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds expressed frustration at government inaction: “We were never charged, never summoned to answer the charges … never given a hearing yet the company has pronounced us guilty of charges. Today, as we continue to take a stand for our rights, the Minister of Labour has thus far taken the position that we do not have any rights or any recourse for justice.” 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/charlessampson.guyana.jpg" width="115" height="192"/>
GB&GWU General President Charles Sampson
GB&GWU General President Charles Sampson, in a letter to Labour, Human Services, and Social Security Minister Mansoor Nadir, said he was “appalled” that you “have not seen it fit to intervene … to immediately put an end to this national insult.” Nadir, for his part, publicly stated in December that “we should let this festive (holiday) season of goodwill take its course and hopefully both parties will exercise more generosity towards each other.” 
 
Six weeks later, there is little generosity shown the 57 mining families who are now impoverished in a poverty-stricken country. Guyana’s Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board did hold a 12 January hearing on the unilateral de-authorization pronouncement by RusAl, and it also heard first-hand how BCGI is now coercing workers to sign waivers to abandon the union. 
 
The ICEM is disturbed that Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, himself a former miner and human rights proponent, has not been in the forefront of this dispute, seeking reinstatement for the 57 and prohibiting RusAl from trampling on the country’s labour code. The ICEM also cites the Russian mining and metals multinational with yet another glaring example of the company’s complete disregard toward international labour and human rights standards.

Guyana Bauxite Workers’ Union Bitter at RusAl, Government

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