Posted By DENIS ST. PIERRE, THE SUDBURY STAR


Union leaders from around the world converged on Sudbury on the weekend to publicly declare their support for striking Vale Inco workers.

During Saturday's "global solidarity rally," the international labour leaders also acknowledged a vested interest in their solidarity with Sudbury miners.

If Brazil-based Vale, the world's second-largest mining company, wins historic concessions in Sudbury, miners across the globe will be increasingly attacked by other mining conglomerates, they warned.

"If Vale wins this fight, imagine what Xstrata and BHP Billiton and all those other companies will do to workers around the world," said Sharan Burrow, an Australian labour leader and president of the International Trade Union Confederation, which represents 166 million workers in 156 countries.

"To the community of Sudbury, I say congratulations for standing up, for standing up for yourselves and for your children, for your community," Burrow said.

"You are standing up to the biggest corporate bully in the world."

A Sudbury arena crowd estimated at 2,500 to 3,000 heard similar messages from labour leaders from Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Finland, Germany, Mexico and Brazil.

A delegation of Brazilian trade unionists said Vale workers in their country are counting on Canada's striking Steelworkers to win the day.

"In Brazil, there is a very, very strong expectation of you winning this fight here in Canada," said Eduardo Fernando Jardim Pinto, a union leader and the sole worker representative on Vale's board of directors.

"You are going to show us the model of the worker of the future that we all want to be," Pinto said, to thunderous applause from the arena crowd. "We are very proud and one day, we know, we are going to work together for a company that respects workers all over the world. I leave here with the conviction ... of this great victory."

Other Brazilian labour leaders vowed to do everything in their power to prevent Vale from sending replacement workers from their country to Sudbury, should that situation arise.

They also called on Vale to live up to its purported social responsibilities by ending the strike in Sudbury and improving labour relations with all its employees.

"You are not alone," said Artur Henrique da Silva Santos, president of CUT, a national Brazilian union that has forged ties with the United Steelworkers.

"We do not agree with what Vale is doing here in Canada," Santos said. "This company makes a big deal about social responsibility ... Well, I want to know, what is the social responsibility Vale is trying to have with this community and with Canada?"

The resistance shown by the Steelworkers in Sudbury is unlike anything Vale has had to deal with in its home country, the Brazilian labour leaders noted.

Under Brazilian law, such a strike would quickly be put to an end by a "labour court" that invariably supports the corporation, they said.

"Unfortunately, in Brazil our legislation is different," Santos said. "We have a labour court that has the right to make decisions when there's a conflict. In 90% of the cases, the court rules on the side of the company and orders the workers to return to work.

"This is the kind of model we don't want around the world."

Over the last several years, Vale workers have suffered losses in health care, pension and other benefits, Pinto said.

"The floor for our salaries isn't even $500 a month," he said. "Constant attacks ... fighting for gains in profit sharing ... no serious health and safety rules. Thousands of workers are mutilated and hurt by this company."

Brazilian law also does not protect workers from being fired without just cause, the labour leaders said.

Brazilian companies fired millions of workers with impunity last year, often to replace them with new hires willing to work for lower wages, the labour leaders said.

The rally also heard pledges of support from several politicians, including Greater Sudbury Mayor John Rodriguez, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and federal NDP Leader Jack Layton.

Horwath and Layton called for anti-scab legislation to be implemented by the federal and provincial governments.

The politicians called on Canada's Conservative government to intervene in the dispute, saying it has become clear Vale has not lived up to its obligation of providing a "net benefit" to the country following its $19-billion takeover of Inco Ltd. in 2006.

"I have a message for Stephen Harper and (Industry Minister) Tony Clement: 'You picked the wrong town!' " Layton said.

"The Steelworkers are fighting not only for Sudbury, but for workers and their families across Canada ... Stephen Harper, pull back the curtain on the agreement that was signed with Vale Inco. Stephen Harper, insist that this company provides benefits to Canada and not give money to ... international bankers."

United Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard defied the Canadian government to explain how Vale's takeover of Inco is producing the net benefit to Sudbury and to Canada the company supposedly is bound to provide.

Gerard characterized the Sudbury strike as "a fight like we've never had before.

"This is a fight about our future ... what kind of future our kids and grandkids will have," he said.

Saturday's rally "put Sudbury on the map again because of the solidarity and the brotherhood that took place here today," said John Fera, president of Steelworkers Local 6500, which represents the striking Sudbury workers.

The Steelworkers also received more than $60,000 in new donations Saturday from unions and other groups.