AFL-CIO, State Department, Issue Statements on ASARCO, Grupo México

The U.S. State Department issued a report this week in response to a complaint the USW filed in February against Mexican mining conglomerate Grupo Mexico and its U.S. subsidiary, ASARCO, accusing the companies of violating workers’ rights.

The State Department posted the report after the USW filed a complaint with the U.S. National Contact Point (NCP) for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises, asking the NCP to help build a dialogue between the parties.

The State Department “determined that many of the issues raised by USW were substantiated and merited further consideration,” but Grupo Mexico and ASARCO have refused the U.S. government’s offer of mediation.

The NCP said it “encourages the parties to continue a dialogue on the issues raised, and the office stands ready to consider future requests for mediation.”

In addition to filing the OECD complaint, the USW has accused Tucson, Ariz.-based ASARCO of multiple unfair labor practices in the United States, including threatening workers, unlawfully implementing changes in workplace conditions, and failing to negotiate with the unions at the company’s five U.S. facilities, where workers have been working without a contract since June 2015.

The National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint against the company supporting these charges.  In a separate lawsuit, the District Court of Arizona ruled earlier this year that the company unlawfully withheld bonuses from USW members; ASARCO appealed this decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on August 3.

The State Department report comes on the heels of an AFL-CIO resolution expressing solidarity with members of the USW and the Mexican union Los Mineros and calling on the companies to settle fair contracts with its unions.

 “The AFL-CIO supports Los Mineros in the long strike against Grupo Mexico at the Cananea mine …  and the United Steelworkers in the effort to achieve a fair contract for its members,” the AFL-CIO said.

Los Mineros members at Cananea have been on strike since 2007, protesting dangerous and unhealthy conditions and other contract violations. Since then, the company and the union have been engaged in a lengthy battle, with Grupo Mexico operating the mine using scabs from an employer-friendly union, the CTM. 

August 6 marked the two-year anniversary of a disastrous spill at the company’s Cananea mine, just across the Arizona border in northern Mexico, in which 10.5 million gallons of concentrated sulfuric acid and heavy metals were released  from a holding pond and into the Sonora River, affecting more than 24,000 people across 45 towns.

In addition to demanding fair contracts for the workers, the AFL-CIO resolution called on the company to ensure the spill is completely cleaned up and to provide adequate care and compensation to the affected families and communities.

For the State Department statement, visit http://www.state.gov/e/eb/oecd/usncp/specificinstance/finalstatements/index.htm

For the AFL-CIO resolution, visit http://www.aflcio.org/About/Exec-Council/EC-Statements/Supporting-Striking-Cananea-Miners-Sonora-River-Residents-and-the-United-Steelworkers

 

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