Canadian Unions and Civil Society Organizations Support Bolivian Mineworkers Union Demands for Fair Treatment from Canadian Company

(Ottawa) Canadian unions and civil society organizations sent a letter today to Canadian mining company Orvana Minerals, condemning the company’s actions in firing the entire workforce at its Don Mario Mine Complex in Bolivia in February of this year. The company is the sole owner of Empresa Minera Paititi (EMIPA), which operates the gold mine in eastern Bolivia that, up until February, supported 130 unionized mine workers and their families.

The letter condemns the company for apparently taking advantage of the Bolivian political crisis to fire its entire workforce, in the middle of a global pandemic. Organizations were troubled to hear that this campaign of intimidation and threats against the union began in October 2019 as the political crisis began to unfold in Bolivia, and just days after the company had ratified an agreement with the union guaranteeing “labour security”. 

The organizations request that the company immediately “commence dialogue in good faith with the Paititi union, in order to repair the harms that have been committed against the workforce at the Don Mario operations, and to afford them the rights guaranteed to them by Bolivian law and by the collective agreement that your company ratified in October 2019.” 

The organizations also demand the “immediate and just re-incorporation of the entire productive workforce at EMIPA.”

The organizations signing the letter are: 

UNIONS

• British Columbia General Employees Union (BCGEU)

• Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 

• CWA-Canada, The Media Union

• National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE)

• Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)

• United Steelworkers (USW) Canada

CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS 

• Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR)

• Christian Peacemaker Teams - Colombia

• Comité por los derechos humanos en América Latina (CDHAL)

• Common Frontiers, Canada 

• Foundation for Development and Education

• MiningWatch Canada 

• Toronto Association for Peace & Solidarity 

The original letter sent to the company can be found attached to the original post here: https://miningwatch.ca/news/2020/10/20/canadian-unions-and-civil-society-organizations-support-bolivian-mineworkers-union 

For more information, or to set up interviews with the unions or civil society organizations who signed on or to speak directly to the Paititi Mineworkers unions, contact:

• Kirsten Francescone, Latin America Program Coordinator, MiningWatch Canada. kirsten@miningwatch.ca , +1 (437) 345-9881