Proposal for a Practical Program of the International Miners' Coordination
- Details
- Created: Sunday, 20 March 2016 23:21
- Hits: 6782
Preamble
The 1. International Miners' Conference 2013 in Arequipa/ Peru including representatives from 25 countries of four continents was a very significant step towards the unification of miners in the whole world. It was guided by the principle that miners'movement must coordinate and cooperate internationally if we want to become a superior force against the international mining monopolies and their governments. In the founding resolution of the conference it says : „It is less and less possible today, isolated from each other and locally restricted, to assert against the international mining monopolies. What we need is the unity of workers worldwide!"
Only on the basis of precise demands and goals which will also be enforced by the common struggle against the governments and trusts such a coordination can progress.
1. There are more than 22 million miners who convey and extract the treasures of the ground under hard and dangerous conditions but their living conditions are in a bad state. Not only the wages are low to be able to live decently but often stagnate or sink. They are out of all proportion to the work performed by them. Even a nominal wage increase becomes insignificant in view of rising costs of living. For a rise of the miners' wages which correspond with an adequate life.
2. The miners are exposed to extreme conditions – we demand: Reduction of working hours by full wage adjustment; ban of the system of indirectly enforced extension of shift times which conclude in irregular working hours. We fight for every job.
The miners who are continuously exposed to hard working conditions which endanger their health have a lower life expectancy. We demand a special system of early retirement for these miners including the same wage as an active worker and without conditions regarding a minimum age.
3. We demand the professional treatment of illnesses and accidents which were caused by the work as well as the acceptance of costs for medical treatment by the enterprises.
The highest job safety for the physical and mental health of the miners must be guaranteed by the enterprises. Worldwide safety standards for the protection of health at the highest level for all mining employees. For a worthy treatment of ill miners and their families and those who be killed in an accident during the exercise of their work.
4. The feature of the replacement of regular jobs by temporary work and outsourcing has become a decisive phenomenon within the international mining industry. To maximise profits, the capitalists reach for the reduction of labour costs. This is achieved by introducing time-, temporary work as well as outsourcing which puts pressure on the workers by the threat of job loss to thus lower the wages. We are for same wage at same work as well as against the expansion of temporary work, limited contracts and outsourcing and we fight for the transfer to permanent staff.
5. In many countries of the world the trade union rights of the miners are attacked in different forms. Also trade unionists are increasingly threatened physically in their existence or murdered on behest of the industrial and finance capital. This is a dangerous development which must be opposed by the miners' movement. Nationalistic-chauvinist and anti-communist tendencies lead to a separation and are directed against the unity of the miners' as well as the workers' movement as a whole.
For free union and political activity! For a complete all-round legal strike right! For the trade unions as militant organisations in the defence of our life, wage and employment conditions! We struggle for the preservation and expansion of democratic rights and freedom!
6. The same trusts who are responsible for the deterioration of the employment and working conditions of the miners and their families are also responsible for the destruction of the natural livelihoods of the human being. The greed for more and more profit has led to a massive environmental destruction as well as an unrestrained exploitation of natural resources. The workers of handcraft as well as small mining are criminalised, locked up, pursued and their means of production destroyed. They get substituted by big mining companies, opencast mining and fracking. We respect the activities of handcraft and traditional mining companies which are conducted in due consideration of the protection of natural livelihoods. The struggle of the miners for adequate living conditions should go hand in hand with the fight for the protection of the natural livelihoods.
Ban of the extractive opencast mining at the expense of nature and the inhabitants! Worldwide ban of fracking! Application of coal as raw material instead of burning it! Ban of the storage resp. environmentally sound disposal of toxic waste and environmentally hazardous materials in the companies! Worldwide active resistance against the impending environmental disaster.
7. We stand for the equal rights of women, they get paid worse and discriminated by unequal payment. We place ourselves against sexism, sexual abuse and violence. Against the shifting of the burdens for the care and education of their children and the reproduction of manpower on the families. The women and families must get a suitable compensation resp. support in case of illness, injury resp. death of family members. We fight against all forms of the special exploitation and suppression of women and support the international, militant women's movement for the liberation of women.
8. One of the most hideous manifestations of the capitalistic system's decadence and backward economies in the world is the exploitation of child labour in the mining industry. We demand the abolition of any form of child labour's exploitation and the guarantee of free and compulsory education for the children by the state.
9. To rule over the raw material resources, the rural population and farmers are driven off by force. Also, imperialistic governments guide annihilating wars which destroy the life foundations of the suppressed. People are torn away from home and hearth and forced to a life as a refugee. In this scenario the workers get split in urban and rural populations as well as different nationalities by instigating them against each other. We advocate for that the population may decide on their territories themselves and that the mining enterprises may not usurp big areas and condone the interests of the population. We support the struggle of the rural population and the farmers against the expropriation of their soil.
10. We fight for the unity of the miners. We oppose and fight against imperialist wars. We are against wars of aggression of the imperialists to secure their control over natural resources and to exert influence over numerous countries and regions. Against the sellout of national wealth to the imperialistic monopolies. We fight for world peace.
11. The IMC has the vision of a „worldwide linked miners' movement who fight for themselves and their children that the treasures of the land, water and the skies belong to those who make them accessible through their labour. They shall be used for a rich, dignified and healthy life of all people in harmony with nature – without exploitation and suppression."
12. We encourage and promote manifold forms of organizations and struggle which defend the life interests of the masses. We seek the cooperation with all those who support us in that and who share our goals.
13. Together we conduct the international days of struggle, May first (international day of struggle of the workers) and the first Saturday in December (international day of struggle to save the environment).
14. The struggle for this program reaches from organizing solidarity including declarations and solidarity strikes to international solidarity campaigns and transnational activities.