Rio Tinto miners settle after 107-day lock-out

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Locked out miners in Boron, Calif., voted to accept a new contract on May 15, ending a 107-day lockout. The miners are employed by international conglomerate Rio Tinto, the world’s fourth largest mining company.

In negotiations, Rio Tinto had demanded that the Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) accept a union-busting contract. Company proposals included an open shop, elimination of seniority, their right to cut pay at any time, their right to outsource any work, and converting full-time work into part-time. Workers refused and were locked out. The new contract beat back most of the concessions demanded by Rio Tinto.

The brave workers who stood up to Rio Tinto received the support of their community and broad sections of the labor movement. Thousands of Los Angeles area trade unionists mobilized in solidarity with the miners, and tens of thousands of dollars of food was donated.

Miners organized a food bank, and cash donations helped miners pay for medical care and bills to make it through the long battle. The ILWU organized a free clinic with volunteer doctors. The local credit union allowed the miners to miss payments on loans during the three-month period of the lock out.

The outpouring of support for the miners from both the Boron community and the labor movement was critical. The ILWU launched a corporate campaign against Rio Tinto, with solidarity actions occurring around the world.

The contract calls for a 2.5% annual raise and eliminates some of the worst of the company’s proposals. However, the contract contains significant concessions, including giving newly hired workers a reduced defined benefit 401k pension plan. This two-tier pension risks dividing the work force in the future and gives management an extra incentive to get rid of higher seniority workers and replace them with “cheaper” new hires.

While the bravery and unity of the miners and their allies was an inspiring display of class solidarity, some labor activists are questioning the strategies used by the ILWU. Jack Heyman, a veteran labor activist and ILWU Local 10 member in Oakland, Calif., released a statement after the settlement was approved in which he questioned the strength of the settlement and the tactics of the ILWU leadership:

“Rio Tinto got what they wanted: gutting union seniority in promotions, hiring and training; the company can now contract out during busy periods; and members can’t sue the company over work related issues. The National Labor Relations Board ruled that Rio Tinto had illegally locked out the miners. The company was liable for miners’ back pay during the threeand-a-half month lockout, but it was given away to achieve a pact.

“In a change from the ILWU’s militant history of organizing mass pickets on the docks against employer attacks, the present International leadership had opposed picketing by the miners and instead called for carrying American flags, demonstrating at the British consulate (Rio Tinto is British-owned) and lobbying Rio Tinto shareholders.”

This “public relations” strategy didn’t use the ILWU’s power on the docks and made it difficult to organize support actions there when the miners themselves weren’t taking such basic protest actions. In any case, the longshoremen should never have handled the thousands (according to locked out Borax miners) of scab containers in the port of Los Angeles.

The Boron miners showed courage by standing up to one the largest corporations in the world and enduring over three months of being locked out. Such courage is an example for all workers to learn from and will need to be repeated in shops across the country if the labor movement is to advance in this difficult period. At the same time, the lesson of the Boron mine lock out is that courage and solidarity often are not enough. While the miners struggle was good enough to stop the worst of the concessions, it was not strong enough to resist significant givebacks to one of the richest companies in the world.

While corporate campaigns can be useful compliments to labor struggles, only economic action, as Heymen suggests, can force determined and financially powerful companies to agree to workers’ demands. The great recession has put corporations on the offensive, seeking concessions and outright union busting from workers in every industry. In order to defend past gains and make advancements for workers, the ranks of the labor movement will have to rediscover the tactics that built their unions in the first place. n