U.S., Canada Workers Rally for Locked-Out California Borax Miners

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/04/16/us-canada-workers-rally-for-locked-out-california-borax-miners/

by James Parks, Apr 16, 2010

Workers in five cities and two nations protested in front of British consulates today to demand justice for nearly 600 members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30, who were locked-out Jan. 31 at Rio Tinto’s Borax mine in Boron, Calif. It is the world’s second largest borax mine.

(You can help the miners and their families by making a tax deductible contribution to Labor Community Services with the notation for Boron Lockout in the memo field. Send the check to Labor Community Services, 2130 W. James M. Wood Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif., 90006.)

The protests come a day after a locked-out miner addressed shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting in London, England, asking the company to end its lockout against families in Boron.



In Seattle, David Freiboth, executive secretary of the Martin Luther King County Labor Council, told a crowd of about 200 outside the consulate:

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.

In Boston, as 30 union memebrs rallied outside, two representatives of the group went inside and met with the deputy consul general and his staff. Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 103 member John Brooks delivered a petition signed by the protestors calling on the consulate staff to inform the British government about their concerns and to press Rio Tinto to end its cruel and illegal lockout immediately.

FULL story at link.