Unions In Indonesia, Brazil and Canada Join Forces To Take On Vale-INCO

Press Release, November 18, 2009
http://english.jatam.org/content/view/105/1/

Union leaders from the ICEM (International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions), Indonesia, Brazil and Canada representing workers at Vale and Vale-Inco (majority owner of PT Inco) signed a Joint Statement in Soroako, South Sulawesi on Friday November 13 charging that the Brazilian based global mining company disregards the needs and rights of its workers and the communities in which Vale operates.

The Joint Statement (see attached) takes aim at Vale's policy of reducing employment levels and its policy of using contract employees rather than permanent employees.

In Canada Vale provoked a strike of 3,500 miners in July of this year. After more than 120 days on strike the United Steelworkers continues to resolutely reject Vale's demands for reductions in the workers' collective bargaining agreement and pension plan, and a reduction in the profit sharing agreement (which is part of the collective agreement).

Sjaiful D.P., President of the FSP-KEP said that "in the Joint Statement the Indonesian union expresses solidarity with striking Vale workers in Canada, and calls on Valle to return to the bargaining table."

Andi Karman, President of SP-KEP Soroako, which represents workers at the PT Inco operation said that "We understand that the fight in Canada is also our struggle because if Vale succeeds in its attack on workers in Canada, corporate management may believe that it can also try to reduce social benefits in our CLA here in Indonesia." Andi Karman added that "Profit at PT Inco is getting better due to nickel price recovery, and our operating cost is decreased significantly. If Vale wants to continue its organizational review with the objective of reducing employment and benefits, there will be strong reaction from us because there is no strong reason for Vale to do that". The SP-KEP also had to strike against Vale-Inco for 11 days in 2007 in order to make sure the company fulfilled its obligations under the collective labour agreement.

The Joint statement is the outcome of a week long visit of an international delegation of trade unionists to Jakarta and Soroako, South Sulawesi which was hosted by the FSP-KEP. The delegation included Joe Drexler of the ICEM (International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions) which represents 20 million workers world wide; Sergio Guerra of the Brazilian union Sindimetal-ES, CNM-CUT; and Tim Kiley, Nick Larochelle, and Doug Olthuis, three Canadians from the United Steelworkers.

Joe Drexler of the ICEM said that "the ICEM is fully engaged in the Vale corporate campaign because mining companies around the world are watching the Vale strike closely. A positive resolution of the strike in Canada for Canadian workers is very important for all ICEM unions because it will send a strong message that attacks on the compensation and rights of miners' and on their communities will be fiercely resisted. A defeat for Canadian workers will have negative implications in mining globally".

Sergio Guerra said "this visit is very important for the Brazilian Vale unions, not only for reasons of international solidarity, but also because of the first hand information we have gained from the union and community in Soroako. We have heard that Vale is not doing enough to provide stable, secure, well-paid employment in Soroako. We have heard that Vale management fails to communicate. Everywhere we went we heard the same thing - communication was better and management more responsive under Inco, before the Vale purchase."

Tim Kiley, chief steward, United Steelworkers Local 6500 said that "the visit of this delegation is part of a global campaign against Vale. Representatives from our union, the United Steelworkers, have traveled to Brazil, Australia, New Caledonia, Australia, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. We are determined to protect our rights and we increase the pressure on Vale". Tim Kiley adds that "we are deeply impressed with the welcome we received from the SP-KEP in Indonesia, and we are extremely grateful for the high level of support we are receiving from them for our strike".

Nick Larochelle, another of the striking members of the United Steelworkers, explained that "Vale continues to be profitable even during the global economic downturn and Vale's demands to reduce workers' rights, pensions and profit sharing are completely unnecessary to the viability of the company and absolutely unfair to the workers that have built the company in Canada."

Doug Olthuis, of the United Steelworkers, noted that "it was important for us to see how closely the community of Soroako works together with the KEP, and how strongly the community supports the KEP in order to make gains for the community and the workers". Olthuis also said that "one of the most appalling stories we heard in Soroako came from the Dongi people who claim that they never sold or ceded their traditional land to PT Inco for the nickel mine and facilities. Today the Dongi live in very poor conditions, and are currently being pressured by Inco-Vale to relocate to another location which is far away and not part of the Dongi traditional territory. Vale does not acknowledge that, as the new owner of PT Inco, it has a responsibility to correct historic injustices, and Vale refuses to adequately address the Dongi claims."

For more information:

Sjaiful P.D. - FSP-KEP 21 585 8823 (Jakarta)
Andi Karman SP KEP Soroako: 0811423638
Abdul Malik - SP-KEP 81 355167456 (Soroako) - (for English language)

Joe Drexler - ICEM 41 79 7348993 (in Geneva)

Siti Maemunah - Mining Action Network (JATAM) 0811920462 (Jakarta for
information particularly with respect to the Dongi case)
Bob Gallagher - United Steelworkers (Toronto, Canada) +1 416 544-5966
Doug Olthuis - United Steelworkers (Toronto, Canada) + 1 416 859-9953

Demonstration in NY against BCIU and Vale CEO Roger Agnelli

Thursday, December 3

6:00-8:00 pm

Outside the Waldorf Astoria

Corner of Park Ave and 50th St.

On December 3rd in New York City the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU) is presenting Vale CEO Roger Agnelli with its Global Citizenship Award.

Agnelli isn’t a ‘good citizen.’ Under his watch Vale has waged an all out war on workers all over the world.

Vale’s misconduct includes:

- Provoking a labor dispute with the United Steelworkers (USW) in Canada by demanding unnecessary concessions from workers despite making billions in profit. For the first time in the history of Sudbury, Ontario Vale is preparing to use replacement workers in an effort to break the strike. Vale has also attacked living standards for retired workers.

- In Brazil, Vale has demanded concessions from its workers, carried out corporate construction projects which displaced thousands of people from their homes, polluted the environment and been fined by the government for illegal logging.

- n New Caledonia, indigenous groups have protested Vale’s violation of their rights as well as massive pollution, including an acid spill which affected a World

Business Council Honoring Vale CEO for Clipping Workers

Monday, November 16, 4:10 pm

Hundreds of Canadian employees of Vale Inco. mines have been on strike since July. (Photo courtesy USW)

By Leo Gerard, United Steelworkers International President

A business group is honoring Roger Agnelli, the CEO of Vale, one of the largest mining companies in the world, which, coincidentally, is in the midst of its longest ever labor dispute. The award is for exceptional accomplishments in corporate social responsibility.

The Business Council for International Understanding will give Agnelli the Dwight D. Eisenhower Global Citizenship Award, feting him for his corporate behavior five months after he provoked the strike by more than 3,000 miners, mill workers and smelters in my hometown of Sudbury and neighboring Port Colborne, Canada.

The strikers now include 450 Vale nickel and copper workers from Voisey’s Bay, also represented by my union, the United Steelworkers (USW).

Vale is the Brazilian-based corporation that boasted $13.2 billion in profits last year and reported third-quarter, after-tax earnings of $1.7 billion this year, more than double its second quarter haul. Vale is a highly-profitable corporation demanding workers take concessions. For example, it wants deep cuts to pay supplements workers get only when nickel prices are high.

Cash flush even during the worldwide recession, Vale has engaged in a buying spree for mines and properties worldwide. In 2008, it announced it would spend $2 billion on electrical projects, mostly coal-fired, and by year end reached agreement to spend $300 million on Colombian coal assets. It got permission from the Brazilian government this year to buy iron ore mines for $750 million. It spent $17.8 billion in 2006 for Inco’s nickel mines and smelters in Canada, and as metal prices rose, earned nearly as much from them over the next two years as Inco had in the previous 10. Still, Agnelli insisted the very Canadian workers whose labor helped Vale make that money take cuts to their income – causing the strike.

Workers and their families have struggled since the strike. The towns in Ontario and Newfoundland have suffered as well because many mining supply and service companies temporarily closed, idling untold additional workers. Kari Cusack, a member of Families Supporting the Strikers, talked about it early in November before a family day on the picket line in Sudbury. She told a local newspaper reporter:

“We see Vale’s attack on Local 6500 as an attack on our entire community, and we want to do our part to fight back against corporate greed.”

The Business Council for International Understanding chose that corporate social responsibility to reward.

In Brazil, Agnelli has shown off some of that corporate social responsibility as well. In September, the government fined Vale $20 million for failing to comply with an antitrust order. Last year, Agnelli secured a court injunction in an attempt to block protestors from the country’s largest social activist group, the Landless Rural Workers Movement, rather than negotiate with those complaining that the company’s iron furnaces were polluting their village and that a hydroelectric dam in which Vale is a partner was flooding their homes. Also last year, Brazil’s Office of the Environment fined Vale $3 million for illegal sale of wood.

Workers from Canada and Vale Brazil demonstrated together in August in front of the multi-national’s Rio de Janeiro headquarters. They served pieces of a giant cake commemorating the 30th day of the USW strike in Ontario. There the Canadian workers learned that Agnelli had forced its Brazilian workers to accept a defined contribution pension plan. Now Agnelli is trying to force the Canadians take the same inferior plan.

The International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), the Botswana Power Corporation Workers Union (BCPWU) and others from around the world have written Agnelli expressing outrage about the strike. Bohithetswe Lentswe, BCPWU General Secretary, wrote:

“We have every reason to believe that Vale is trying to destroy its strongest collective bargaining agreement for the purpose of setting a precedent to weaken other collective bargaining agreements throughout the world. Vale is also attempting to export its anti-worker, anti-union practices in Brazil to the rest of the world.”

Of course. That’s what great CEOs do, as the Business Council for International Understanding will proclaim at its Dec. 3 dinner in the Waldorf=Astoria, New York City. With the cheapest tickets going for $1,000, it’s likely none of those $29-an-hour Vale workers will get a seat. But Agnelli, who is one of six Vale executives who together pulled down $33 million last year, could effortlessly drop $100,000 for an “underwriting level” table of 10 at his award dinner.

Perhaps there the Business Council for International Understanding will detail its reasons for selecting Agnelli for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Global Citizenship Award. It only profiles Vale and Agnelli on its web page, without, for example, providing the kind of insight into Agnelli’s personality that Antonio Regalado did for the Wall Street Journal in 2008 in a story:

“Current and former Vale executives say Mr. Agnelli can be hard on subordinates. Some of them cite what they say is an autocratic style and a table-pounding temper. . . . In internal company surveys, employees complain frequently that they are under too much pressure . . . Marco Dalpozzo, Vale’s head of human resources, doesn’t deny that Mr. Agnelli can be rough on people, “He’s a tough guy,” he says.”

Again: of course. That’s what business groups prize – executives with table-pounding tempers.
The Business Council is, however, a group that claims it was started by the late President Dwight D. Eisenhower and named its prize for him. It’s not clear, though, that the business values of the current council and Agnelli resemble those of President Eisenhower. For example, here’s what the President wrote in November, 1954:

“Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt. . ., a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”

To let the Business Council know the ways in which you think this award for Agnelli will increase its goal of International Understanding, call 212-490-0460 in New York, 202-595-2668 in Washington or 44-207-225-3561 in London.

LabourStart has created a web page so you can easily write a personal note directly to Agnelli. It’s here. It enables you to quickly drop Agnelli a little note telling him just how much you think he deserves this honor.

This post originally appeared at the USW Blog.

Encontro debate impacto socioambiental da mineradora Vale S/A em Minas Gerais

por Robson Braga*

Fonte: Adital - 26-Nov-2009

As comunidades do Estado de Minas Gerais - no Sudeste brasileiro - diretamente afetadas pela atividade mineradora realizam, no próximo sábado (28), na capital Belo Horizonte, o "1º Encontro Mineiro dos Atingidos pela Vale". Os participantes vão debater e pensar medidas contrárias ao impacto socioambiental gerado pela empresa Vale S/A, segunda maior mineradora do mundo e maior empresa privada do Brasil. O encontro ocorre das 8h às 12h, na sede do Sind-Rede/BH (Av. Amazonas, 491, sala 1009, Centro). Os atingidos pela atividade mineradora da Vale vão debater os resultados socioambientais do trabalho da empresa: as desapropriações forçadas de comunidades; a terceirização, com perdas dos direitos trabalhistas; os acidentes de trabalho; a contaminação e o rebaixamento do lençol freático; e a perda da biodiversidade.

Para eles, o governo federal deve anular o leilão, considerado ilegal, que privatizou a empresa em 1997. O grupo pede a reestatização de empresa, hoje presente nos cinco continentes do mundo.

Em nota, o Comitê Mineiro dos Atingidos pela Vale criticou a campanha publicitária da empresa, que, só nos últimos 12 meses, gastou R$178,8 milhões em propagandas que enfatizam um suposto desenvolvimento econômico dos municípios onde atua, a geração de emprego e sua responsabilidade social. "O que a realidade comprova é a acentuação de conflitos sociais, econômicos e ambientais que modificam a qualidade de vida das pessoas", rebateu o comitê.

O grupo ainda alerta para a possibilidade de mineração na Serra da Gandarela, região que contribui com o abastecimento de água da Região Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte. A Vale aguarda resposta sobre um pedido de licenciamento ambiental para atuar na região.

A Vale S/A atua em 12 Estados brasileiros, detendo o direito de lavra de um território de 23 milhões de hectares. Apesar de seu lucro ter passado de US$8 bilhões em 1997, quando foi privatizada, para US$125 bilhões atualmente, a empresa demitiu cerca de quatro mil trabalhadores diretos e 15 mil terceirizados entre 2008 a 2009, alegando a crise econômica mundial.

Embora consuma, sozinha, cerca de 5% de toda a energia elétrica nacional, a empresa paga apenas R$3,30 por 100Kwh/mês, enquanto que a população brasileira paga R$50 pela mesma quantidade de energia.

O Comitê Mineiro dos Atingidos pela Vale é formado pelas Brigadas Populares, Coordenação Nacional de Lutas (Conlutas), Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (MAB), Assembleia Popular São Francisco, Movimento pelas Serras e Águas de Minas, e Entidade Nacional dos Estudantes de Biologia (ENE-Bio).

A Vale em Minas Gerais

A cidade de Itabira, a 104km de Belo Horizonte, "é hoje uma fotografia na parede", lamenta o padre Antônio Claret, membro do Movimento dos Atingidos Por Barragens (MAB) de Minas Gerais. Foi ali onde surgiu, em 1942, a companhia Vale do Rio Doce, que, após privatização, em 1997, tornou-se a Vale S/A.

"Itabira atingiu um nível de poluição maior que a cidade de São Paulo", cidade do Sudeste brasileiro repleta de indústrias e automóveis, enfatizou Claret. Segundo ele, "hoje todas as áreas de mineração de Minas Gerais estão sob o domínio da Vale ou têm alguma interferência dela. Você privatiza o subsolo sem saber exatamente o que tem nele", criticou Claret.

O membro do MAB cita impactos causados pela Vale no Estado. O Rio Doce, por exemplo, sofre a ação das barragens de Candonga, na Zona da Mata, e de Aimorés, no leste de Minas. A construção da barragem de Condonga obrigou, em 2004, a realocação das 105 famílias do extinto distrito de Soberbo, de 280 hectares, para uma região próxima, então denominada de Nova Soberbo.

"As casas são boas, mas eles perderam seu meio de sobrevivência, porque eles trabalhavam com a pesca, a extração artesanal de ouro ou como autônomos na região. Eles tinham quintais muito grandes, onde podiam plantar, criar animais, e agora estão assentados em três hectares", diz o padre. Além dos problemas econômicos, uma grande ironia: a comunidade sofre, até hoje, sérios problemas de água, "conseqüências da barragem", afirma Claret.

* Jornalista da Adital

Video - Canada - Support Bill C-300!

To watch a short 5-minute documentary film on Canadian MP John McKay's Private Member's Bill C-300 and some of the MPs who support it, please click here.

To know more about Bill C-300, please click here.


Este blog recomenda o pequeno documentário de 5 minutos (em inglês, sem legenda) sobre a Bill C-300. Para assistir, basta clicar aqui.

A "Bill C-300" é um projeto-de-lei que está atualmente tramitando no Parlamento do Canadá. Ela tem como objetivo regular as atividades das companhias extrativas canadenses no exterior.

Mais informações (em inglês) sobre Bill C-300 podem ser obtidas aqui.