Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

ILWU Rio Tinto Miners Approve Deal to End California Mine Lockout With Major Concessions

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/05/15/business/AP-US-Mine-Lockout.html?_r=1&src=busln
Miners Approve Deal to End California Mine Lockout
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 15, 2010
Filed at 11:26 p.m. ET

BORON, Calif. (AP) -- Some 75 percent of locked-out mine workers voted Saturday to approve a settlement with the operators of a huge borate mine in California's Mojave Desert, ending an impasse that began in January, a union spokesman said.

Miners approved the six-year deal between their International Longshore Warehouse Union and Rio Tinto Borax that includes a $5,000 bonus for each worker and a 2.5 percent annual pay raise, union spokesman Craig Merrilees said in a statement.

The company said it won the right to base promotions and transfers on skills and performance rather than just seniority, to settle disputes through grievance and arbitration and to use contract workers during busy periods.

''We have reached a fair agreement that allows us to improve work practices and productivity so we can keep the business competitive throughout the life of the operation, potentially another 70 years,'' General Manager of Boron Operations Dean Gehring said in a statement.

DEFEND ILWU BORON MINERS AGAINST RIO TINTO ATTACKS!

600 ILWU Local 30 Boron miners have been locked out now for 2 ½ months by British-based Rio Tinto, one of the largest mining conglomerates in the world. If we don’t stop this attack, ILWU warehouse Local 20 also employed by Rio Tinto at the Borax terminal in the port of LA are next. Their contract expires in one year. And ILWU’s greatest organizing success to date, Rite Aid warehouse workers near LA will find it tough negotiating their contract. The Longshore Division has always said that Warehouse is our critical flank in the fight against PMA employers.

Scab borax cargo from Boron is being loaded onto ships in LA harbor now! In fact, scab cargo was being loaded in LA while the Longshore Caucus was in session. (This is public information at www.track-trace.com, Hit “container” on top of the page, then put in container #SEAU7838112, given by locked out Boron miners. It shows the “full load” scab box was put on the Maersk Altair voyage #1004 @ 13:58 April 5 at APM terminal Pier 400 in LA.) That was the first day of the Longshore Caucus. Nuff said! You can be sure PMA is watching this one closely. If we lose, PMA won’t wait until the end of the contract in 2014 to launch a serious attack directly on ILWU’s longshore division.

4/16 Rio Tinto Day of Action at British Consulates In Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles For ILWU Local 30 Locked Out Miners

www.ilwu.org/mobilize/Local30/consulateaction.cfm
Rio Tinto Day of Action at British Consulates Friday, April 16, 2010
On April 16th we are asking that our ILWU locals, IBU Regions, Pension Clubs and Auxiliaries turn out for rallies and demonstrations at the British Consulates in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. All rallies will be on Friday, April 16. The times and locations and ILWU/IBU contact persons for these rallies are as follows:

Seattle – 12:00 Noon - 900 Fourth Avenue Suite 3100 Seattle, WA. 98164 – Terri Mast IBU 206-284-6001 #20

Portland – The Consulate in Portland has closed so Columbia River members are encouraged to go to Seattle.

San Francisco – 11:00 AM - 1 Sansome Street Suite 850 San Francisco – Dave Hill Local 34 – 925-451-6386 or Russ Miyashiro Local 34 – 510-816-4990

Los Angeles – 11:00 AM - 11766 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 1200, Los Angeles, CA 90025 – Agustin Ramirez ILWU Lead Organizer - 916-606-4681

4/6 SF Support Meeting For Rio Tinto ILWU Local 30 Boron Miners

SUPPORT
THE BORON MINERS
ILWU Local 10 Education Committee and
Stewards Council
Tuesday April 6, 2010
Meetings start at 6pm
Henry Schmidt Room, ILWU Local 10, 400 NorthPoint St. S.F.
ILWU Local 30 E.Board member Tom Owens
and other Rio Tinto workers will speak
on the lockout and struggle against Rio Tinto.
A's and B's come. This is everyones fight. This is the most important union struggle for the
ILWU since the 2002 lockout.
We will also discuss how the 10 Guiding Principles of the ILWU apply to this struggle
Picket in Support of ILWU Local 30
Friday April 16th 11am
British Consulate: 1 Sansome, S.F.
Rio Tinto, a global mining giant, will begin its annual shareholders meeting in London on April
15. It is implicated in the deaths of 10%of the population of the northernmost Solomon Island.
In New Guinea it was involved in massacres of tribal people and environmental devastation.
Our brothers and sisters will picket and rally in London, Los Angles and Seattle. Join in the
international support for the 600 locked out Rio Tinto miners. Don't handle scab cargo.
Labor Donated

YouTube - Boron, California ILWU Local 30 Rio Tinto mine workers denounce company lock-out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2azVh6yV1s&feature=

Video-Thousands March To Back ILWU Local 30 Rio Tinto Workers-Borax Lock-Out Sends Families On Foot

http://www.turnto23.com/video/22587217/index.html

Will Orange County IBT Local 952 take on UPS?
http://socialistworker.org/2010/02/17/will-local-952-take-on-ups

Will Local 952 take on UPS?
Edgar Esquivel, a former teacher and a UPS worker for nearly 12 years, explains why Teamsters Local 952 members are organizing against the company's contract violations--and challenging union leaders.
February 17, 2010

Teamsters Local 952 members on strike against the Orange Country Transportation Authority in 2007

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.--Under a weakened and corrupt Teamsters union led by James Hoffa, the officers of Teamsters Local 952 in Orange County, Calif., have become divorced from their constituency. But now, UPSers in the local--concerned over a series of contract violations by the company and concessions--are determined to take their union back.

The key issue is enforcement of the contract. Beginning with one of the most regressive deals in the history of UPS Teamsters in December 2007, the Teamsters at the Laguna hub have suffered the consequences of an apathetic local unwilling to enforce the contract and rightfully represent its members.

Management's breaches of the contract range from the failure of the company to replace vacant positions left after retirements to the elimination of full-time jobs guaranteed under Article 22.3--which was drafted into the 1997-2002 agreement that was won after the historic 1997 strike against UPS. Production harassment--attempts to discipline workers for failure to complete a set amount of work--are also on the rise. Management has also repeatedly violated the contract by forcing drivers to work 9.5 hours several days in a row.

2/24 From the Docks to the Desert, an Emergency Caravan to Aid Locked out Boron Rio Tinto ILWU Local 30 Miners
From the Docks to the Desert, an Emergency Caravan to Aid Locked out Miners
On February 24, please join the LA Labor Movement for the "Docks to the Desert," an emergency caravan to bring food and show solidarity to 574 locked out miners in Boron, CA.

About the Rio Tinto Miners
Since February 1, about 574 miners in Boron, CA have been locked out by the Rio Tinto mining corporation, a London based company. The Rio Tinto miners are members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 30.

Located about 90 miles northeast of Los Angeles, the City of Boron is home to a close knit working class community of 2,000. Rio Tinto is the world's third-largest mining company with operations on five continents.

Check out a recent LA Times article about the Lock Out:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-boron1-2010feb01,0,362036.story

Two Ways You Can Help
1) Join the Caravan - On Wednesday, February 24, show your support for the Rio Tinto miners by joining the caravan from Los Angeles to Boron. (Stay Tuned for more details.)
2) Donate Money - Donate Money to Help Purchase Food for the locked out miners in Boron.

I.L.W.U. Local 30 Rio Tinto Borax Miners Locked Out In Boron,CA-Solidarity Rally Tuesday Feb 16

http://boraxminers.com/

I.L.W.U. LOCAL 30

2/5/2010

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This website is organized by members of the ILWU Local 30 who work at the US Borax/Rio Tinto mine in Boron, where we operate the largest open-pit mine in California and process borates that are used around the world to make glass, preserve wood, fight fires, fertilize plants, and a host of other products. Our goal is to keep everyone - including our customers - informed about our efforts to secure good jobs and protect the communities where we live.

We arrived at the line, telling the company: "We want to work!"
Rio Tinto officials turned around and slinked back toward the mine.

Sharing the news - We made
the front page of the LA Times!

Rio Tinto is bringing busloads of replacement workers
who don't understand the meaning of "solidarity"

ILWU Locked Out

Rio Tinto locked-out almost 600 from our jobs at the Borax mine and processing plant on Sunday morning, January 31, 2010 at 7am. Hundreds of us showed-up Sunday morning to make a powerful statement by appearing with our families at the gate, wearing our work clothes, carrying lunchboxes in one hand and American flags in the other. We marched up to the gate, proud and determined.

Stand UP For Public Education

Our Children’s Future At Risk

Statement Of The Transport Workers Solidarity Committee TWSC

Using the pretext of not enough money, the governor and legislator are cutting tens of billions from education for our children and our right to public education. K-12 class sizes are being increased and teachers are being cutback in poor and working class districts like Oakland and Richmond. How can our kids learn when classes have 30 to 40 students. This is a racist attack on most poor Black and Latino kids while schools in the richer districts get more money. The ILWU stood up for Oakland students in the past when they stopped work in the Port of Oakland to demand that the port help pay for the education of the children in the district.

While Chevron and the Refinery for example in Richmond make billions they refuse to pay taxes for the schools in the district. Why is that there are not even enough pencils and books for our children in these school districts in the richest state and the richest country in the world? There will be a student/teacher worker march on Feb 27, 2010 in Richmond to demand that these corporations pay for education if they want to operate in California.