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ILWU Boron miners locked out! Caravan to rally for Local 30 on Feb. 24th.
LABOR NEWS -- Feb. 1, 2010: 574 miners in Boron, CA locked out by the Rio Tinto mining corporation, a London based company. The workers are members of ILWU Local 30. Ninety miles northeast of Los Angeles, Boron is population 2,000 working class community based on the company's mine, the largest open pit mine in the state and second leading borax producing mine in the world. Feb. 16, 2010: Two busloads of ILWU members from Local 13 (Longshore), Local 63 (Marine Clerks), Local 94 (Foremen) and Local 63OCU (Office & Clerical) drive to Boron and join a march with over 700 people in support of the ILWU Local 30 miners. Wednesday, February 24th, 2010: Join workers from across the region as we caravan to Boron to rally with ILWU Local 30 Miners. Also joining the caravan will be two big-rigs carrying containers loaded with food for the workers and their families. DETAILS BELOW or visit the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor for more. Printable flyer here
Caravan Details: DATE: Wednesday, Feb. 24th. ASSEMBLE AT: Dodger Stadium - Lot 13 on Stadium Way TIME: 7 AM - Assemble. 8 AM - Caravan Departs for Boron. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Glen Arnodo, with the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, at (213) 381-5611 x126.
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Rio Tinto’s attack on working families in Boron
At 7:00 am on January 31, 2010, the Rio Tinto corporation locked out nearly 600 ILWU members at the company’s Borax mine and plant in Boron, California.
Rio Tinto is a foreign-owned, mega mining conglomerate that’s trying to force a concessionary contract ultimatum onto working families and communities in California’s High Desert. Rio Tinto’s ultimatum includes:
· The power to convert full-time jobs, whenever management wants, into part-time positions with little or no benefits.
· Authority to reduce employee pay, any time the company wants, regardless of the contract wage rates and without any right of workers to file a grievance.
· The ability to outsource all jobs, any time it wants, to contractors and temp agencies that pay low wages and provide little or no benefits, without any right to file a worker grievance.
· If Rio Tinto violates any state or federal labor laws, which it has already done, workers would be required to pay for the company's legal penalties, fines, damages and even attorney fees.
· The unlawful discrimination against military personnel by denying them seniority credit for military service if they've served in the Armed Forces for less than one year or for more than four years, which constitutes a violation of federal law (USERRA). Also among the company’s demands is the elimination of the Veteran’s Day holiday starting in 2011.
· The removal of scores of workers from the union contract and power to declare entire sections of the plant to be “non-union” areas where employees could be fired at anytime, for any reason, or for no reason at all.
· The ability at any time to change shifts, hours and work assignments, and impose mandatory overtime, with no scheduled days-off or regular shifts, making life impossible for families.
· Require workers to give up their Constitutional and legal right as Americans to go to court if the foreign-owned company discriminates based on race, sex, age, disability, military status or religion, or if it violates any other state or federal laws, including the U.S. Civil Rights Act, FMLA, ADA, ERISA, FLSA. Under the Rio Tinto lockout contract, all legal rights would be transferred from American courts to a private arbitrator, which the company gets to pick in at least half the cases.
· Authority to eliminate long term disability coverage for any new employee, which protects workers - and provides economic security to families - when an employee is injured and can’t work.
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The drastic reduction of retirement benefits for current employees, and the total elimination of pension benefits for new employees who would only get a small 401(k) contribution.
Rio Tinto has a long and ugly history of disrespecting workers and communities here in the US and around the world. Our brothers and sisters in Australia’s Hunter Valley are facing the same kind of outrageous demands that families are facing in Boron.
Rio Tinto is currently being sued in US Federal Court for mistreating the community and environment in Papua, New Guinea.
In 2009, Rio Tinto made almost $5 Billion in profits, despite a world-wide recession. Several years ago, the company paid nearly $40 Billion for Alcan—a decision that left Rio Tinto heavily in debt. The company is now trying to climb out of debt by driving down the working conditions of their employees.
The International Executive Board of the ILWU condemns Rio Tinto’s lockout of our Local 30 members. We urge all unions, community groups, environmental organizations and others who care about working families to lend whatever support they can to achieve a resounding victory over this greedy and abusive employer.
“Workers in Boron are fighting to save good jobs and help our communities in the high desert, but they’re really standing up for all workers in America who are sick of seeing good jobs destroyed or turned into ‘junk jobs’ without decent health care and retirement,” says Angie Holland-Young, a 17-year award-winning employee with a perfect attendance record.
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