Vale Exec Accuses Striking Miners of Racism The Real News Network go to original April 03, 2010
Strike gets ugly as Canadians respond to allegations of race-baiting in dispute with Brazilian company
The second of two parts in the Real News' most recent series on the nickel miner strike in Sudbury, Canada. In part two, we document the fall-out after Vale management accused the striking union, the United Steelworkers, of appealing to racism in voting down the company's most recent contract offer.
The striking workers, despite entering their ninth month on the picket line, rejected the offer by a rate of 88%, a higher 'no' vote than the one that originally put them on strike in July of 2009. The accusations of racism were flatly rejected by both the union, and visiting workers from around the world.