To the striking miners in India
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- Created: Friday, 03 July 2020 11:46
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Hello, miners, I have heard from the IFTU, which is a member of the International Miners' Coordination, about your three day strike against the planned privatization of 41 coal mining areas in 5 states. I am the main coordinator of the International Miners Coordination and a former underground miner in the coal industry, you have my fullest solidarity in your struggle.
We find your demands not to privatize the mines, not to stop underground mining in favor of surface mining, to hire permanent staff instead of contract workers, and to create the struggle against special regulations, fully justified. It corresponds to our International Program of Struggle by saying: "The characteristic of replacing regular jobs with temporary work and outsourcing has become a certain phenomenon, even in the international mining industry. In order to maximize their profits, the capitalists are resorting to reducing the share of wages in turnover. Fight against splitting - there are no first, second or third class workers! We fight for the transfer of temporary workers to the core workforce as well as against the expansion of temporary work! We fight for the abolition of contract labour in the framework of normal mining and outsourcing. I wish you and your families much strength and perseverance. Like you, many of the more than 20 million miners in the world who mine and extract the treasures of the earth under hard and dangerous conditions, but suffer from very poor living conditions. Here in Germany the last hard coal mines have been closed down and more than 250 miners who are still working for the RAG/RAG Foundation have been dismissed. They, too, are fighting with us at the moment for their jobs and the company policy of the scorched earth. The principle of our miners' coordination is that we miners and our families cooperate internationally and coordinate our struggles if we want to become a superior force against the international mining monopolies and their governments. At our founding conference in 2013 in Arequiepa/Peru we decided: "Today it is less and less possible to stand up against the international mining monopolies in isolation from each other and locally limited. What we need is the unity of workers worldwide." Only on the basis of concrete demands and objectives, achieved in the struggle against governments and corporations, can such coordination move forward. We have nothing to expect from the right-wing governments and their mendacious promises - we must take care of ourselves!
I would like to encourage you to join us and join us. We can learn from each other and support each other.Heartfelt solidarity greetings and Glück Auf
Andreas Tadysiak,
Main Coordinator of the International Miners' Coordination