The Unitary Central of Workers (CUT) supported in a statement the strike that workers of the National Copper Corporation (Codelco) will begin tomorrow, after the board of the state company approved moving towards the closure of the Ventanas smelter, located in Quintero, Valparaíso region, due to contamination episodes in the area.
“We support and support the call for a national strike by the Federation of Copper Workers (FTC). From now on we make ourselves available for the role that we jointly determine,” the CUT said in the public statement.
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Regarding the closing of Windows, they indicated that they have “insistently proposed a new development model that overcomes the current neoliberal model that causes the destruction of the environment,” and that “there cannot be” a “contradiction between caring for the environment and caring for of life and employment.
“The decision to close the Ventanas smelter is part of a process, which must be programmed and projected based on dialogues prior to the closure. And that must have the participation of the workers and the community, as recommended by international organizations. , such as the International Labor Organization (ILO),” they added from the CUT.
“In light of the publicly known facts, everything indicates that this process, at least, was carried out partially and without all the actors on the part of the company and the government,” they emphasized.
Likewise, they exhorted the Executive and Codelco to explicitly indicate “the deadlines for the creation of a smelter, which has all the necessary requirements for green production, together with indicating the place of said installation.”
In this line, they indicated that “it is urgent for the lives of the workers in the area, that the closing dates of the other private polluting sources in the Quintero-Puchuncaví area be indicated. In the same way, provide security regarding of the non-privatization of functions of the state”.
In turn, they called for the establishment of “a space for effective dialogue with the community, the companies and the small local miners, whose objective is a real reconversion plan that effectively prevents the area from becoming a failed plan, as it was in the coal area.
