LabourNet comment: Rio Tinto may recall February 1988 when Liverpool dockers refused to handle containers of uranium originating from the RTZ Rössing Uranium mine in South African-occupied Namibia, leading to cancelled contracts in Japan

from ILWU list

Jeff,

I’d like to thank ILWU Local 30 for giving Local 10 pensioner Leo Robinson, Local 8 member Jack Mulcahy and myself the opportunity to address your membership meeting last week about Rio Tinto’s 3 month lock out of your local. More than that, the company has recruited scabs to do your work, something PMA never dared to do during our 2002 lock out.

Could you please post the container numbers of these scab containers leaving the Boron mine along with a tracking website so ILWU members can help monitor and stop this union busting move by Rio Tinto? The fourth guiding principle of “The Ten Guiding Principles of the ILWU” states: “Labor solidarity means just that. Unions have to accept the fact that the solidarity of labor stands above all else, including even the so-called sanctity of the contract. We cannot adopt for ourselves the policies of union leaders who insist that because they have a contract, their members are compelled to perform work even behind a picket line. Every picket line must be respected as though it were our own.” The PCL&CD (longshore and clerks contract) has strong picket line language and we’ve got oceans of arbitrations affirming our right to honor picket lines and refuse to work scab cargo. As we like to say on the waterfront when you hit the employers in the pocketbook, then they’ll listen to what you have to say in negotiations. Until then...

In solidarity,

Jack

idea00_01 wrote:

I would like to give a big shout out to Jack Heyman. Thank you brother for visiting during our last Union Meeting our membership needed to hear your voice. We are going back into negotiations tues. wen. thur. this week. IMO, the meetings had better be fruitful, if not, all hell will break loose. Will keep you posted.“the only thing sharholders hate more than bad press is a bad quarter”. (Avatar)

Fraternally

Jeff