We, the constituent organziations of the collective “Sepetiba Bay asks for Help,” meeting on February 6, 2010 in Campo Grande, Rio de Janeiro, declare our rejection of the aggressive stance of Vale towards the working men and women in Canada. They are on strike for seven months against the attempt by Vale to dismantle rights acquired over decades of struggle.
In an attempt to pressure the workers, Vale refuses to negotiate with the union, and said it will resume the activities of the mines with workers from outside contractors. We denounce this attitude and declare our full support and solidarity with the workers of the USW on strike for their rights!
Vale has used the global economic crisis to pressure workers in the world, to reduce wages, increase working hours, to fire workers and reduce rights previously won. The strike in Canada since July 2009 is an important example of struggle and resistance against the arrogance and intransigence of the company.
In Brazil, employees suffer layoffs without justification, with no workplace safety measures and work with different kinds of pressures that often lead us to suicide. The rise in outsourcing of work by Vale (of 146,000 jobs, 83,000 are indirect or contracted out) is used to dismiss the obligation to provide better working conditions, wages, health and safety on the job, and the lives of their employees, leading to precarious employment relationships.
In the region of Sepetiba Bay, in Rio de Janeiro state, Vale is involved in a construction project along with ThyssenKrupp Companhia Siderurgica do Atlantico (TKCSA). Since the beginning of this project, TKCSA is destroying the livelihoods of the population around the site, causing pollution of the sea and destroying the mangrove, which is considered by Brazilian law to be a Permanent Preservation Area.
As a result, about 8,000 fishing families who once lived by fishing, are losing their way of life and are unable to work. Moreover, the work generated in the construction of the steel mill is outsourced and extremely precarious, with various irregularities regarding the safety of workers.
In the outsourced workers housing, 30 workers were found living in a situation analogous to slavery and without receiving their salaries for two months. To construct the coke plant, TKCSA brought in about 600 Chinese workers who lived in a camp and had no contact with the local population. On a visit to the construction site, the Ministry of Labour found 120 undocumented Chinese workers without labour contracts.
We suspect that the companies responsible for property security of the building site are using paramilitary forces that control and suppress the workers who rise up against the poor working conditions and against people who oppose the project. We struggle for TKCSA to respect life, the dignity of work, and to protect the health of its employees and the general public, and the environment which are sources of life and work of several generations of fishermen in Rio de Janeiro!
We stand in solidarity with the struggle of workers of Vale in Canada! Vale must return to the negotiating table with the USW! The fight for decent work and security – wealth generated belongs to society as a whole – is a struggle for us all! Your rights should not only be maintained and respected, but also extended to all workers at Vale around the world, since it’s their sweat that generates the company’s profits.
Socialist Core Campo Grande
Alternative Policies Institute for the Southern Cone (PACS)
Faith and Politics – Sepetiba
Fishermen’s Association of the Pedra de Guaratiba (AAPP)
Deputy Paulo Ramos
Deputy Marcelo Freixo
Women’s Popular Committee
Union of Miners (Sindimina) RJ
National Confederation of Workers in the Mining Sector
State-wide Union of Teachers (Sepe)
