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(I have taken a lot of flak about my position on
mining stocks, but I think my position in intellectually honest and that
during times of massive upheaval you cannot have any substitute for metal in
your hand.)
Goons, Armed Police Confront Workers Holding Union Vote at Excellon Resources Mine
Canada NewsWire
TORONTO, July 5, 2012
TORONTO, July 5, 2012 /CNW/ – Workers
attempting to hold a free and democratic unionization vote today at a Mexican
silver mine owned by Canadian mining company Excellon
Resources are being confronted by heavily armed police and goons from a
company-controlled union.
As workers at Excellon’s
La Platosa Mine in Durango, Mexico, attempted to
cast their unionization votes this morning, Excellon
allowed four trucks of state police – armed with combat rifles –
onto the property, human rights and labour
observers reported.
Labour
and civil society groups are watching today’s vote closely, given the
history of systematic labour and human rights violations
affecting the La Platosa Mine workers and the
surrounding community.
“There must be about two dozen heavily armed
state police at the mine site right now,” reported Ben Davis of the
United Steelworkers, one of the observers of today’s union vote.
After the state police arrived, several dozen men,
who appear to be members of a company-controlled union, began intimidating
workers.
“There are now close to 100 of these guys,
some carrying sticks, and we just got a report they are blocking the road to keep
the second shift of workers from coming in to vote,” Davis said this
morning.
Mexican federal police, also heavily armed, arrived
at the mine site shortly before noon (Eastern time), Davis said.
The workers at Excellon’s
La Platosa Mine are voting to select a union to
represent them and administer a collective bargaining agreement with Excellon subsidiary Servicios Mineros San Pedro S.A. de C.V.
Three unions are on the ballot for today’s
vote, including Section 309 of Mexico’s National Union of Mine, Metal
and Steelworkers, or Los Mineros. The other two
organizations are regarded by labour experts in
Canada and the U.S. as company-controlled unions.
Since the mineworkers affiliated to Los Mineros in 2010, they have suffered oppression,
intimidation and unfair dismissals intended to stop the organizing process
and prevent true union representation that would defend their rights.
Section 309 of Los Mineros
held a legal work stoppage at the La Platosa Mine
on July 23, 2011, to try to force the company to sign a contract. On August
18, 2011, in the presence of Durango state government officials, Excellon agreed to recognize the existence of the union
and to sign a contract. Despite this agreement, the company then signed a
contract with the “Adolfo Lopez Mateos”
union, regarded as a company union, without the knowledge of mine workers.
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/782842#ixzz20JgaQgsM
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