Shandong Gold

ILO violation 87 : The General Secretary of SINTRA (Sindicato de Trabajadores), the union at the Jin Yan mining company, which belongs to the Chinese company Shandong Gold, was arrested on 28 June. The union had called an indefinite strike at a gold mine in El Callao on 9 June, which was joined by more than 350 miners belonging to the union, as a result of the company’s failure to respond to various demands from SINTRA to guarantee their rights. Some days earlier, the General Secretary had criticised the repression of the striking workers by the National Guard, who attacked them with machetes, tear gas and rubber bullets, in breach of the Constitution and the LOT, which guarantee the right to strike. The strike lasted 60 days. When the employees had returned to work the company sacked ten workers, which prompted the Ministry of Labour to assume responsibility for arbitration of the dispute between the company and its workers.: Venezuela