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Unions in Pakistan held a day of mourning and protest on 28 September at the continued death toll in the country’s mines, and called for the ratification of ILO Convention 176.

The IndustriALL Pakistan Council – made up of Pakistani affiliates to IndustriALL Global Union – were protesting the failure of the government to act to stem the carnage. IndustriALL affiliates estimate that 98 coal miners have been killed this year, with 70 injured.

19 coal mineworkers, including six rescue workers, have died in a horrific accident at Sanjidi coalmine near Quetta in Baluchistan province, Pakistan.

According to the latest report 14 dead bodies have been recovered and bodies of five coal workers are still trapped inside the coalmine debris. The victim coal miners were from Shangla, Swat and Dir areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Colombia is one of the resource-rich, conflict-ridden countries favoured by Glencore. The company is well known in the country for its violations of the environment and workers rights, including health and safety and the freedom of association.

As early as 2006, there were allegations of corruption and severe human rights violations with the local union, IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Sintracarbón, accusing the company of forced expropriations and evacuations of entire villages to enable mine expansion, in complicity with Colombian authorities.

The Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa, has ruled that an employer cannot employ a worker for more than three months without a permanent contract.

This is a major victory for workers after years of a bitter union campaign against labour brokering. The victory is the result of a relentless campaign by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), who took the issue to the courts.

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In separate incidents on the same day, a staggering total of 23 mine workers were killed and 11 injured in horrific mine accidents in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on 5 May.

According to reports, 16 workers were killed in a mine in the Marwar area when the mine collapsed at the exit point following a methane gas explosion. A private company called Pir Ismael was operating the coal mine, and 25 to 30 workers were believed to at work at the time of the accident.

Workers at Rio Tinto’s QIT Madagascar Minerals (QMM) operations downed tools twice in five days over management’s violation of their collective bargaining agreement relative to salary increases.  About 320 permanent workers out of 480 went out strike on 8 March.

IndustriALL Global Union delivered this message at the African Mining Indaba, held in Cape Town, South Africa, from 5 to 8 February 2018.

The Indaba has brought investors, mining companies, governments and other stakeholders from around the world together in the city for the last 20 years. For the first time, this year’s event included a Sustainable Development Day with the motto “Transforming the industry to make mining work for the people”.

IndustriALL took its global campaign against Glencore to the London Mines and Money conference where it was joined by a broad coalition protesting Glencore’s abuses of workers, communities and the environment.

In Australia our members at Oaky North have been locked out by Glencore for months. But all over the world their toxic behaviour is affecting mineworkers and their communities.

Read more about the global protest on IndustriALL

The IndustriALL Executive Committee meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka today endorsed a global campaign against the commodities multinational Glencore.

The Glencore campaign comes on the back of a successful campaign against mining giant Rio Tinto.

“Glencore has no corporate soul”, said Tony Maher, national president of Australian affiliate the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Engineering Union (CFMEU).

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