District 3 hosts International Miners Network for week of dialogue and action

USW District 3 and the Steelworkers Humanity Fund hosted a meeting in June of the International Miners Network, bringing together unions from the global gold-mining operations of Newmont Corporation.

Unions participating in the meeting included Los Mineros of Mexico, SITRACOMY of Peru, ASIJEMIN of Argentina, the Australian Workers Union and the USW – including members of Local 1-1937 which represents about 350 members at Newmont’s Red Chris mine in northern B.C. 

The network’s discussions addressed issues including the challenges of organizing workers and health and safety issues ranging from dust control to mental health concerns for workers who are away from home for weeks at a time.

The group also engaged in a detailed comparison of the contracts of the five participating unions, examining wages, hours of work, production/metal bonuses, PPE, travel, rest time between shifts and more. One finding was that safety officers in Australian unions have stronger legal rights to shut down dangerous operations. A meeting with B.C.’s Minister of Mining and Critical Minerals, Jagrup Brar, provided an opportunity to share positive examples that could be applied to a Canadian context.

The network also met with members of the USW’s B.C. council of mining and smelting locals. The Mineros described threats from organized crime that have been received by workers at the Camino Rojo mine in Mexico to convince them to leave the Mineros and join a pro-employer, company union. The mine is owned by Vancouver-based Orla Mining, in which Newmont is a major shareholder. Joined by the leaders of mining locals from across B.C., USW staff and District 3 Director Scott Lunny, the network protested outside Orla Mining headquarters, denouncing the company’s union-busting and ongoing human and labour rights violations. 

The network’s members also travelled to Kamloops, B.C., for a tour of the Highland Valley Copper mine, hosted by Steelworkers Local 7619. The group was joined by USW International Secretary-Treasurer Myles Sullivan and by Gaylan Prescott, Director of USW District 12 (the U.S. west coast).

The open-pit copper mine and its processing facilities resemble operations in Latin America and Australia, where several of the network’s delegates work. Delegates held discussions with Local 7619 health and safety officers on various issues at the mine and their strategies for addressing them with the company.

Back in Vancouver, the delegates met leaders from USW Local 2009 and other labour unions, as well as B.C. SOAR members. During the final day of meetings, SITRACOMY was informed by the mine’s management in Peru that it did not recognize the recent election to union leadership of one its delegates who was participating in the network meeting in Vancouver, unjustly placing him at risk of termination for absence from work. The network’s affiliates immediately drafted a letter of solidarity, which was signed by each union’s leaders and then sent to Newmont CEO Tom Palmer.

Overall, the weeklong activities allowed participants to learn from the challenges faced by each union and from further analysis of the global corporation’s operations. It marked an important advance in the network’s aim of practical, meaningful solidarity-building.

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