Global mining and maritime unions meet in Auckland

Min­ing and Mar­itime Ini­tia­tive Chair Mick Dole­man says the union for­ma­tion brings togeth­er unions with com­mon inter­ests and is com­ple­ment­ing oth­er union fed­er­a­tions.

Mr Dole­man, who is Deputy Nation­al Sec­re­tary of the Mar­itime Union of Aus­tralia, says the glob­al­ized struc­ture of the min­ing and mar­itime indus­tries required a glob­al response from work­ers.

He says the strong pro­gres­sive and mil­i­tant tra­di­tion in the min­ing and mar­itime indus­tries means that the affil­i­at­ed unions were already active­ly involved in inter­na­tion­al sol­i­dar­i­ty actions.

He says this is the first time the Min­ing and Mar­itime com­mit­tee had met in New Zealand.

Mr Dole­man acknowl­edged the con­tri­bu­tion of affil­i­at­ed New Zealand unions to major dis­putes which the Min­ing and Mar­itime Ini­tia­tive had been active in.

New Zealand unions had sup­port­ed min­ers in the Boron dis­pute in Cal­i­for­nia with min­ing giant Rio Tin­to, which saw the com­pa­ny defeat­ed in its anti Union lock out of work­ers, and had also sup­port­ed the Mex­i­can min­ers in their dis­pute with min­ing com­pa­ny Grupo Mex­i­co, where min­ers have been killed and oppressed.

Hold­ing the meet­ing in Auck­land was an oppor­tu­ni­ty to dis­cuss some of the major union issues in the Asia Pacif­ic region and New Zealand itself.

Unions affil­i­at­ed to the Trans Tas­man Trans­port Union Fed­er­a­tion and the Trans Tas­man Oil and Gas Alliance were also meet­ing dur­ing the week.

The mas­sive devel­op­ment of the off­shore oil and gas indus­try in the region was a major focus of inter­est, as was ensur­ing the devel­op­ment of union­ism in nations of the region.

The Min­ing and Mar­itime Ini­tia­tive brings togeth­er glob­al unions includ­ing the Mar­itime Union of Aus­tralia, Inter­na­tion­al Long­shore and Ware­house Union (ILWU) from North Amer­i­ca, CFMEU (Min­ing and ener­gy – Aus­tralia), Unit­ed Steel Work­ers (North Amer­i­ca), NUM (Nation­al Union of Minework­ers – South Africa), ILA (Inter­na­tion­al Longshoremen’s Asso­ci­a­tion – North Amer­i­ca), SATAWU (South Africa Trans­port and Allied Work­ers Union), UMWA (Unit­ed Mine Work­ers – North Amer­i­ca), and CEPPWAWU (Chem­i­cal Ener­gy Paper Print­ing Wood and Allied Work­ers Union – South Africa).

Glob­al union fed­er­a­tions also involved were the ITF (Inter­na­tion­al Trans­port Work­ers Fed­er­a­tion), ICEM (Inter­na­tion­al Fed­er­a­tion of Chem­i­cal, Ener­gy, Mine and Gen­er­al Work­ers’ Unions) and IMF (Inter­na­tion­al Met­al Work­ers Fed­er­a­tion).

New Zealand rep­re­sen­ta­tives include the host­ing union the Mar­itime Union of New Zealand and the EPMU.

The Min­ing and Mar­itime Ini­tia­tive will hold its inter­na­tion­al con­fer­ence in 2011 in South Africa.