Chile - 02/09/2017

Strike in La Escondida day one,

Long live the fight of La Escondida miners!

Today over 2,500 workers went on a strike in the world’s largest copper mine exploited by imperialist transnational BHP Biliton. Miners are fighting for a 7% wage increase and a bonus of 25 million pesos (around U$ 38,000) and to defend the conquers of the collective agreement that bosses want to steal in the collective negotiations they are currently having.
The strike of La Escondida miners must triumph!
Their fight and demands are the ones of the entire working class and exploited against transnationals that plunder copper, against Bachelet’s government which guarantees such plunder and against the civic-military regime.
Currents like PTR state that the working class can only be refounded submitting itself to CUT; that can only fight by submitting itself to that scab bureaucracy. Today about this strike they say that the main solidarity must come from CUT and MP of Frente Amplio (Wide Front), from the “new left” which supports the Pinochetist regime that slaves and starves the working class and exploited people.
That’s a lie! The working class will be refounded like La Escodida miners are doing today, by paralyzing production, attacking imperialist translationals’ profits.
Let’s send rank and file delegates to La Escondida from all the mines, docks, factories, workplaces, secondary schools and universities to set up the real working movement and the exploited of Chile, against the ones who sold out our fight.
Down with CUT treacherous bureaucracy form the miners’ movement, dock workers, teachers and every fight of the workers, students and exploited people!
Let’s all go to La Escondida to set up a big Struggle Committee against imperialist transnationals, their government and pinochetist Generals!
In order to conquer decent wages and pensions, free education and end with slave labour the immediate task is:
Re-nationalization without compensation and under worker control of copper!
Down with Reserved Copper Law that gives huge profits to Pinochet’s Army!
For the return of revolution! For the return of industrial cordons!

 

Chile - 02/10/2017

Strike in La Escondida day two,

The strike of the workers
in the world’s largest copper mine continues

The strike of 2,500 miners of Union No. 1 of La Escondida -the world’s largest copper mine-, confronting the imperialist transnational company BHP Billiton for their demands of 7% wage increase, a 25 million Pesos bonus, for all workers beyond their antiquity to have the same conquers and in defense of their collective agreement, has alarmed the exploiters of Chile and the world. Today, officials of Bachelet’s government, the coup plotters of Christian Democracy (DC) and the "red pacos" (slang for police officers, TN) of Communist Party together with the bloodsucking bosses grouped in the Mining Council affirm that due to this workers’ struggle "the price of copper will fall" and that "it will damage the economy of the country”. They claim that today “it is not possible to award bulky bonus” to the miners because of the economic situation.
This government –agent of imperialism-, whose hands are smeared with the blood of comrade Nelson Quichillao, and the spokesmen of the transnational companies want to blame the miners in struggld for the ruin of the Chilean economy; when actually they guarantee that Imperialist miners take 40,000 million dollars a year away, as a result of the plunder of copper, while they've placed the burden due to the lower prices of minerals on the working class, as there are more than 60,000 layoffs in mining industry, increasing the rates of exploitation and wanting to steal all their conquers.
Only BHP Billiton and other US and Japanese imperialist transnational companies operating in La Escondida mine earn more than $ 500 million a month, of which only 6% is used to pay workers' salaries! That is to say that for the workers and exploited there are only wages of hunger, dismissals, super-exploitation and health and education systems destroyed.
Today they accuse the miners of La Escondida of demanding a "bulge bonus", while the caste of officers of the Pinochet’s Army takes around $ 1 billion a year! For the remaining 10% of gross sales of CODELCO according to the Reserved Copper Law!
Stop lying!
There is plenty of Money!
Re-nationalization without compensation of copper and place it udner workers’ control!
Down with the Reserved Copper Law!
There is the money to defend the collective agreement and to conquer decent wage increase and all the demands of the exploited.

In order to achieve that:

We must forge unity between the regular workers and the outsourced!
We are all miners!

Equal pay for equal work! All outsourced workers must become regular ones! Down with outsourcing law! Down with Labour Code of Pinochet and “labour reform” of Bachelet!
Re-instate all the dismissed miners! Reduce working hours to create an extra shift in every mine to put all the available hands to produce!
For a 25 million pesos bonus for the entire working class, like the one demanded by La Escondida miners!
Mining workers' organizations such as Union No. 2 of Sierra Gorda and the Federation of Mine Workers, which, in addition to Union No. 1 of La Escondida, group several private mining unions, have already expressed their solidarity with the strike of La Escondida miners. This enormous class solidarity must be made effective, sending delegations elected in assembly to La Escondida to vote a united struggle plan and unify all the miners of Chile!
For selfdefence committees to defend ourselves from murderous pacos (police) repression! Worker and popular courts to judge and punish the killers of Nelson Quichillao and all the worker and popular martyrs!
From all the mines, docks, factories, high schools and universities; from the poor peasants of Mapuche origin; from the sectors that fought for these demands and were betrayed; from all the sectors that are fighting: let us send rank and file delegates to La Escondida to set up a great Fight Committee to confront the transnationals, the Bachelet’s government and the civic-military regime, against the scab bureaucrats of CUT.
Copper for Chileans to fund decent salary and pensions, against labour slavery, for free health and education systems and all our demands!
Militant workers' organizations such as the CIUS (Initiative Committee for Trade Union Unity) or the AIT (Inter-union Workers Association) should put all their forces to make this come true. For rank and file assemblies in all these organizations to vote delegates to fight side by side with the miners of La Escondida!
One single class, one single fight! For a unified international fight with the miners of Peru, Colombia, Argentina and Bolivia in the Southern Cone, along with the Marikana miners in South Africa and around the world against the same imperialist transnationals that plunder and bleed our nations!
Out with the transnational companies! Off with US military bases, guardians of the imperialist miners!
Enough with Bachelet’s government, the DC and the CP! Enough with civic-military regime! Enough with the "new left" servant of the Pinochet regime and the genocidal army!
Down with the "red pacos" of the CUT bureaucracy!
For the return of the industrial cordons! For the return of revolution!
Chile will be socialist or will be a colony!