Many so-called ’poor’ countries have an abundance of mineral wealth from which the local populations rarely benefit. They are the ones who suffer from the negative environmental consequences of mining operations and, even when jobs are created, local workers’ basic social rights are seldom respected. This is the case of Mali - the world’s third largest gold producer, after South Africa and Ghana - where 530 workers at the Morila gold mine were summarily dismissed in July 2005. Their offence? Striking to demand the wages and working conditions to which they have a right. Since September 2005 nine of them have even been jailed in degrading conditions. Their employer, a subsidiary of the Bouygues group, refuses to hold serious negotiations and to change its repressive approach.

The Morila gold mine near Sanso (the Sikasso region in southern Mali) is owned by three shareholders: the South African multinationals Randgold (40%) and Anglogold (40%) and the Malian state (20%). This consortium sub-contracts excavation and extraction of gold to SOMADEX SAU(1), a subsidiary of the Bouygues group, which recruits workers and ’manages’ manpower on the mine.

Despite the gold, life in Morila can hardly be said to glitter. Indecent working conditions, failure to pay bonuses, unfair layoffs, harassment of trade union leaders, forged labour contracts, unpaid overtime and leave, occupational accidents not taken into account, racist and discriminatory comments by supervisory staff etc. are all regular features of the miners’ daily lives. Yet their work is both arduous and dangerous. Strikers at Morila explain: ’Our women sometimes give birth at home. Workers die on the site of the accident because they aren’t evacuated by ambulance. The administrative and financial director refuses to agree to the firm providing healthcare for sick workers, who end up dying’.

Equally disastrous are the consequences of mining activity on the environment, for instance unkept promises concerning the development of villages, ground pollution by cyanide and arsenic, and intoxication of flocks of sheep.

Reasons for the strike

Several issues prompted the miners to go on strike in 2005. Their first demand concerned the payment of four years of production bonuses due by SOMADEX. The collective agreement for mining, geological and hydrological firms provides for the payment of bonuses when production exceeds forecasts, and gold mining at Morila, started in 2000, has yielded far more than planned(2). That effort has had a price, however, since labourers have been forced to work at an unbearable pace, 12 hours a day, six days a week (it was only after striking in 2003 that they obtained an 8-hour working day). But the SOMADEX management fails to see things in the same light. According to the firm the regulations are imprecise and the exceptional yields are the result of processing high-grade ore, not of additional efforts demanded of the miners.

The miners’ are also angry about the fact that labour laws are openly flouted. After years with the company many of them still have temporary labour contracts. To circumvent the law, the personnel manager readily forges documents.

The harsh methods of the supervisory staff and harassment of the trade union committee are further causes of discontent. To gag the opposition, management picked on Amadou Nioumanta, general secretary of the committee. The personnel manager tried to silence him in several ways, some of them libellous. For instance, he launched a petition against him and accused him of ’stealing metal’. Fortunately the labour inspector refused to accept these charges. After exhausting all possibilities of dialogue, the miners opted for a 72-hour strike on 5, 6 and 7 July 2005. When they returned to work 17 of them were sacked. In reaction to this violation of their rights, and as a sign of solidarity with their colleagues, the miners launched an unlimited strike. Despite pressure by the company management and notwithstanding the ambiguous attitude of the SECNAMI (Syndicat National des Mines) which was sensitive to such pressure, the trade union committee refused to call off the strike until the 17 workers had been reinstated.

530 miners sacked, 9 detained: Bouygues has to intervene

Rather than stepping down, SOMADEX chose to bare its teeth. On 31 July 2005 it summarily sacked 311 miners from its workforce for ‘desertion of their posts’. This number soon rose to 530 when employees who had agreed to return to work refused SOMADEX’s new conditions, i.e. new contracts in which the rights secured earlier were invalidated.

On 12 August SOMADEX had five union leaders arrested for fraud. The unionists were subsequently released on bail. On 14 September two busses used to transport miners were burned in the night in the courtyard of the gendarmerie. The firm immediately accused the miners, 32 of whom were arbitrarily arrested without any substantiating evidence. The trade union committee suspected provocation. Today nine are detained in inhuman and degrading conditions.

(1) SOciété MAlienne d’EXploitation (de l’or).
(2) Mali’s gold reserves are estimated at 120m tonnes, theoretically to be mined over an 11-year period, at a rate of 11 tonnes per year. But production has already exceeded 83 tonnes, which is two-thirds of the reserves. At this rate there will soon be none left. The firm accelerated production, primarily to take advantage of tax exemptions granted for the first three years.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Solidarity campaign to support the Morila strikers

In 2006 the World Social Forum took place on three continents: in Latin America (Caracas, Venezuela), in Asia (Karachi, Pakistan) and in Africa (Bamako, Mali). Many French organizations were present at the Bamako Social Forum where they directly met the miners who had lost their jobs. The network ’No vox’ had taken the miners to the Forum, where some of them launched a solidarity campaign, disseminated information and wrote to Bouygues. In-house, the Bouygues Construction CGT (trade union) has proposed dialogue on the subject with the company. A petition has also been launched (cf. ‘What to do’).

First signatories:
No Vox, Dal, CSL, IPAM, Droits Devant !, Apeis, AC !, Attac/Groupe Afrique, Peuples Solidaires, Copaf, Comité de Soutien au Peuple Togolais, Droit Paysan 13, Sud Santé Lisieux, Monseigneur Gaillot - Evêque de Partenia, Afrique XXI, Survie/Paris Ile de France, CNT, SNAPAP-Algérie.

Websites:

  Morila strikers: www.grevistesmorila.africa-web.org

  Support campaign: www.soutienmorila.info

WHAT TO DO

By letter: copy the standard letter below or use your own wording; you can download it directly by clicking on the attachment at the bottom of this page. Send your letter to the address indicated below, and remember to add your own name, address and signature.

On-line petition: you can also sign the on-line petition on www.soutienmorila.info

Deadline: as soon as you receive this call and not later than 30 June 2006.

PROTEST LETTER:

Date :

Monsieur Yves Gabriel
Président Directeur Général
Bouygues Construction
1, av Eugène Freyssinet Guyancourt
78065 Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines cedex

Monsieur,

J’ai été informé-e par le Réseau-Solidarité de Peuples Solidaires (10 quai de Richemont, 35000 Rennes) et par le Collectif de soutien aux grévistes de la mine d’or de Morila des agissements de la SOMADEX, l’une de vos filiales qui exploite la mine d’or de Morila, au Mali.

De nombreuses violations des droits économiques et sociaux ont été constatées à Morila. En 2005, la SOMADEX a multiplié les actions de répression contre le Comité syndical et les grévistes : 530 mineurs ont été licenciés, tandis que 9 d’entre eux sont toujours détenus suite à une plainte de l’entreprise dans une affaire non éclaircie d’incendie.

Soucieux-se du respect des droits de l’Homme par votre filiale, je vous demande d’intervenir sans délai auprès de la SOMADEX afin qu’elle :- réintègre les 530 mineurs aux postes qu’ils occupaient ;- abandonne les poursuites contre les 9 mineurs détenus ;- ouvre de réelles négociations pour l’amélioration des conditions de travail, de salaires et sur le respect de l’environnement.

Dans l’attente des réponses que vous donnerez à ce courrier, je vous prie d’agréer, Monsieur, l’expression de mes sincères salutations.

TRANSLATION:

Dear Sir

I have been informed by Réseau-Solidarité of Peuples Solidaires (10 quai de Richemont, 35000 Rennes, France) and by the Collective to support strikers at the Morila gold mine in Mali, of the attitude of SOMADEX, one of your subsidiaries which operates the Morila mine.

Many violations of economic and social rights have been recorded at Morila. In 2005 SOMADEX severely repressed the trade union and striking miners: 530 miners were dismissed and nine of them are still being detained without trial on charges of arson laid by the firm in spite of a lack of evidence.

Concerned about these violations of human rights by your subsidiary, I urge you to intervene immediately to ensure that SOMADEX:
  reinstates the 530 dismissed workers
  drops its charges against the nine detained miners
  launches real negotiations to improve working conditions, wages and environmental protection.

I intend to remain informed of your action in this respect.

Yours sincerely