Boston-Area Union Members Protest at British Consulate to Support Rio Tinto Miners in Boron CA
Cambridge, MA - About 30 union members gathered at Boston's British Consulate on April 16 to demand justice for 570 California miners who have been locked-out of work by the Rio Tinto mining corporation since January 31, 2010 at the world’s 2nd largest borax mine in Boron, CA.
Two representative of the group went inside the Consulate's offices and met with Chris Henderson, the Deputy Consul General and his staff.
IBEW Local 103 member John Brooks delivered a proclamation signed by the entire group calling on the Deputy Consul General to inform the British government about our outrage and to press Rio Tinto to end its cruel and illegal lockout immediately, so that negotiations can resume in the spirit of fairness and good-faith bargaining that is required by U.S. law.
Deputy Consul General Henderson said he would comply.
The day before, on April 15, a locked-out miner from Rio Tinto's borax mine in California addressed shareholders at the company's Annual General Meeting in London, England. The gathering at Boston's British Consulate is intended to follow-up on that effort by continuing to pressure the British-based company to be more accountable to American workers and communities. Video from the action in London can be seen on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsK2iwccL7k
Similar protests took place on Friday in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Salt Lake City and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
The action at the British Consulate was supported by the Greater Boston Labor Councilhttp://gbclc.com and Massachusetts Jobs with Justice http://www.massjwj.net/.
Pictures from the event can be seen on the Picasa photo sharing website at:http://picasaweb.google.com/randwilson.aflcio/BostonAreaProtestAtBritish...
Join the Miners support group on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=102986243074905
Rio Tinto is one of the world's largest mining companies with a history of human rights abuse around the globe. In Boron, California, the company retaliated against employees and instituted the "lock-out" after workers rejected a company ultimatum that included illegal contract demands and provisions allowing the company to convert good full-time jobs into part-time, temporary, and outsourced positions with little or no benefits. Learn more at: http://boraxminers.com
"Corporations are destroying good jobs all across America today, but these locked-out families in California deserve special support because they're fighting for the good jobs that America needs and taking-on a corporate bully like Rio Tinto," said Russ Davis, Director of Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, a workers' rights coalition that supported the action.
