Miners in Indonesia strike
Submitted by Django on Aug 3 2010 17:44
Miners at the Batu Hijau mine on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia are on strike over unpaid overtime pay, with the union claiming that the strike is likely to last until the 10th of August.
The strike follows legal wrangling over the company's attempts to withhold overtime pay owed to 1,919 of its employees. In July, the West Nusa Tenggara provincial office of the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry ordered PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, the company which owns the mine, to pay $13.8 million in overtime payments, some of which is owing since 2008.
South African miners launch indefinite strike
Submitted by Django on Jul 8 2010 21:43
Miners at four sites owned by Shanduka Resources Ltd have downed tools to demand the equalisation of pay and working conditions.
Hundreds of miners are involved in the walkout, which has hit mines in Springlake, Leeufontein, Graspan Colliery and Townlands. The indefinite strike is backed by the South African National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
Bangladeshi strike wave rolls on; rocks, papers and cloth
Submitted by Red Marriott on May 28 2010 16:48
Labour unrest continues[1] in diverse areas, including rock mining and the garment industry.
The garment industry
In the Ready Made Garment (RMG) sector, regular outbursts of wildcat strikes, riots, roadblocks and attacks on factories continue...
Indefinite general strike in Bolivia continues
Submitted by Steven. on May 17 2010 11:11
In spite of condemnation from the "socialist" government of Evo Morales, the general strike launched on May 4 against a 5% wage cap continues.
On Tuesday May 4, the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB; Bolivian Workers’ Centre), the chief union federation in Bolivia, launched an indefinite general strike against Evo Morales’ Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) government.
US Rio Tinto miners demand end to lock out
Submitted by JoeMaguire on Apr 15 2010 22:50
International trade unions will protest against the unfair treatment of hundreds of Rio Tinto miners this morning at the company's annual general meeting in London.
Hundreds of miners and their families are being forced to survive on unemployment insurance and charitable donations since British-owned mining giant Rio Tinto locked the workers out of its Borax mine in Boron, California in January this year.
Six killed in Peru miners strike clashes
Submitted by Steven. on Apr 12 2010 17:00
Six people were killed on April 5 when police attacked a roadblock set up by miners on a wildcat strike.
Officials claimed that the workers were protesting at the government’s push to impose environmental controls on them, although one observer commented that it was more likely that the government was motivated by financial interests than saving the planet.
Mining Disaster in West Virginia
Submitted by John E Jacobsen on Apr 8 2010 20:41
This week, 25 miners lost their lives in a mine explosion at the Performance Coal Co. in Raleigh County, West Virginia. The explosion was the worst mining disaster in over two decades, if you don't count the 10,000 who have died from black lung in the past decade.
For the full article and further coverage, visit the Trial by Fire.
Rescue workers are still working around the clock to find an additional 4 miners who are still missing.
The news comes only days after five workers died at an oil refinery in Anacortes, Washington.
The war in DR Congo: behind the slaughter and looting stand imperialist interests - IBRP
Article from 2008, looking at the interests of various factions involved in the ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In October a new phase of fighting in the long running Congo war broke out. General Laurent Nkunda’s Tutsi rebel forces captured several towns in the North Kivu province and advanced on the regional capital Goma, the town in which the latest peace agreement was signed only nine months earlier.
Ten Years Ago - Unions vs. the Proletariat: The "Miners March" in Romania
Submitted by JJ on Dec 10 2009 11:11
Short introduction of the so called "Miners March", when in 1999 angry miners of the Zhil-valley (Romania) wanted to go to the capital, to protest against their circumstances. The text focuses on the ever actual confrontation between trade union leaders and proletarian interests.
Ten Years Ago - THE UNIONS vs. THE PROLETARIAT: The "Miners March" in Romania
Péter Konok
Strike at Canadian nickel mine enters its 12th week
Submitted by Red Marriott on Oct 6 2009 16:22
After months of unresolved bargaining a strike began on July 13th at the Sudbury mine in northern Ontario, Canada, after employers Vale Inco refused to alter its original demands for concessions. United Steel Workers union members (USW Local 6500) in Sudbury and Port Colburne in Ontario and Voisey Bay in Labrador responded by voting 85% in favor of strike action.
The strike affects 3,073 employees at Vale's integrated mining, milling, smelting and refining operations in Sudbury, 116 employees at the Port Colborne refinery and over 200 at Voisey Bay. The concessions demanded by the company include a drastic change in pension benefits for new hires (the pension Fund is $725 million in deficit), changes to seniority rights and a cap on the "Nickel Bonus".
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