USW, Global Allies Rally in London, Demand End to Glencore Labor Abuses

glen0Contact: Rey Hererra: (361) 215-5073, reyrey235@hotmail.com

GREGORY, Texas (December 10, 2014) — A delegation from United Steelworkers (USW) Local 235A joined the union’s international allies in London today for a demonstration outside the headquarters of Sherwin Alumina’s corporate owner, global mining giant Glencore.

The protest, which coincided with Glencore’s annual Investor Day as well as International Human Rights Day, demanded that the company end its abuse of workers around the world, which includes a two-month lockout of 450 workers at Sherwin’s plant in Gregory, Texas.

“This is a company that makes huge profits off the backs of its workers and tries to bully those workers into accepting less and less,” said USW Local 235A negotiator Jessie Green, who traveled to London for the event. “It’s corporate greed – pure and simple – and unless we stand up to it, it will only get worse.”

glen0Members of Unite, Britain and Ireland’s largest union, also took part in the protest. Unite is the USW’s partner in the 3 million-member international union Workers Uniting.

“The only way we can stand up to these corporate giants is to bring the fight to them,” Green said. “Through Workers Uniting and other global alliances, we are able to challenge the abuse of workers all over the world.”

Sherwin Alumina locked its doors on its hourly work force in Gregory on October 11 after the workers there refused to accept pay and benefit cuts. Glencore, the world’s 10th largest company, made a net income of $4.6 billion in 2013.

Green also delivered a letter to Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg today on behalf of Workers Uniting, calling on the company to negotiate in good faith to resolve the labor dispute in Gregory, as well as those at Glencore-owned mines in Peru, South Africa and Colombia.

For more information, visit www.usw.org/sherwin or www.unitetheunion.org.

USW District 13 represents more than 50,000 members in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. The USW is the largest industrial union in North America, representing workers in a range of industries including metals, mining, rubber, paper and forestry, oil refining, health care, security, hotels, and municipal governments.

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