Shaft Workers, Get an Award for Corporate Social Responsibility

by James Parks, Nov 17, 2009

Striking Vale mine workers rally last month for fair contracts.

Five months after Roger Agnelli, CEO of Vale Inco, provoked a strike by nearly 3,500 miners, mill workers and smelters at three mines in Canada, an employer group is honoring Agnelli—for demonstrating corporate social responsibility.

Brazilian-based Vale, the second-largest mining company in the world, recorded $13.2 billion in profits last year. But the company is demanding the workers, who are members of three United Steelworkers (USW) locals, give back hard-earned benefits and accept an inferior defined-contribution pension plan and take cuts in profit-sharing.

USW President Leo Gerard says the striking workers and their families have struggled since the strike began July 13. One of the mines is located in Sudbury, Gerard’s hometown.

In a column at the USW website, Gerard quotes Kari Cusack, a member of Families Supporting the Strikers, who told a local newspaper:

We see Vale’s attack…as an attack on our entire community, and we want to do our part to fight back against corporate greed.

Corporate greed will take center stage at a Dec. 3 ceremony in New York by the Business Council for International Understanding, which is bestowing upon Agnelli its Dwight D. Eisenhower Global Citizenship Award. (Let the Business Council know you think the award for Agnelli is wrong by calling 212-490-0460 in New York, 202-595-2668 in Washington or 44-207-225-3561 in London.)

The global labor news service, LabourStart, has created a webpage here on the strike where you can easily write a personal note directly to Agnelli.

International support for the strikers is growing. Teams of striking workers are traveling to three continents this month, spreading the message of their strike and urging Vale’s customers, investors and workers to pressure the company for fair contracts. For more information on the strike, click here.

Vale workers from Canada and Brazil rallied together in August at the multinational’s headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. They served pieces of a giant cake commemorating the 30-day anniversary of the miners’ strike.

In September, the Brazilian government fined Vale $20 million for failing to comply with an antitrust order. Last year, Brazil’s Office of the Environment fined Vale $3 million for illegal sale of wood.

Union groups from around the world have written Agnelli, expressing outrage about the strike. Gerard quotes General Secretary Bohithetswe Lentswe, general secretary of the Botswana Power Corporation Workers Union, who said:

We have every reason to believe that Vale is trying to destroy its strongest collective bargaining agreement for the purpose of setting a precedent to weaken other collective bargaining agreements throughout the world. Vale is also attempting to export its anti-worker, anti-union practices in Brazil to the rest of the world.

Gerard adds:

Of course. That’s what great CEOs do, as the Business Council for International Understanding will proclaim….With the cheapest tickets going for $1,000, it’s likely none of those $29-an-hour Vale workers will get a seat. But Agnelli, who is one of six Vale executives who together pulled down $33 million last year, could effortlessly drop $100,000 for an “underwriting level” table of 10 at his award dinner.

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