Support the workers at El Cerrejon coal mine

On December 1 and 2, 2008, the union of coal workers at the Cerrejon
mine in Guajira Department in northern Colombia presented a list of
proposals for changes in their current collective bargaining
agreement with Carbones del Cerrejon ( The Coal Company of the
Cerrejon).

The Cerrejon mine is the largest open pit mine in the world, more
than 30 miles long and 5 miles wide. It is owned by a consortium of
multinational companies, BHP Billiton, Xstrata (Angloamerican), and
Glencore. Since production began in 1981 the mine has yielded 460
million tons, with this year's production of 28 million tons for
export to increase next year. Illnesses of mine workers have reached
a new high in the last 2 years, of about 700. The union, which has
3,700 members among the 10,000 workers and private contractors
employed at the mine (5,000 in the mine and 5,000 through private
contractors), seeks higher pay for mine workers, inclusion of
benefits for the Wayuu indigenous communities within whose lands the
mine has been located, and improved protections for worker's health
and safety.

Please join SINTRACARBON and the international union movement to to
seek better working conditions, benefits and pay for the Cerrejon
mine workers . Write to the Presiden to the Compania Cerrejon LLC,
Leon Teicher, expressing your solidarity with the proposals of
SINTRACARBON :

leon.teicher@hotmail.com