Boron, California mine workers denounce company lock-out

[capth00k]

COPS. Here to protect the GREEDY corporate elite, from the struggling lower classes. I love it how the guys at the top set it up so employees will never get retirement benefits; and still ask for our tax dollars in the form of stimulus. This IS about our kids, and our futures - and we have to put the power back in the hands of the average American working class, not the corporate elite of this country.

[bapyou]

Much respect to the men speaking on camera in this video. Keep up the good fight. Good people around the world are on your side. Solidarity.

[bdturner100]

If people want to work for $9.70 an hour and no benefits be my guest. This is a dangerous job and these people who are crossing over to work would not do this job under the contract they are proposing. We lived in Boron and my husband worked at the mine many years ago. I support the workers at "Borax".

[lischef4]

Yes, they casued a fallouf in demand for the product by mailing Rio Tinto Borax customers letters saying they wouldn't get their product in time and it wouldn't be any good. A couple of people don't own Rio Tinto. They have thousands of stockholders and Boron didn't make a notable amount of Rio Tinto's profits. I don't care what size a business is. If you own it and it is making money, it doesn't give employees the right to demand whatever they want and be able to strike whenever.

[jslassahn]

lischef4:

"Your business?" There's only a few thousand people in the world who own a business of this size, so sorry, I don't see a reason to relate. An extension would have likely lead to capitulating into a contract that takes their working conditions back to the early 1900's. Plus, as they say, Rio Tinto even managed to earn a profit amidst this historic recession - so why should the workers face concessions? Is their productivity lower, did they cause a falloff in demand for the product?

[oneironaut34]

@jslassahn

Borax is 1% of Rio Tinto's profit...and the wealth does not get spread around. I don't understand how standing on the line is going to help you get a better coontract. Your picket is a joke.

[zleebster]

@oneironaut34 Its not a picket you moron. Do some research before you speak, ignorant fool.

[lischef4]

You can bitch and moan about everything, but think about if it was your business and all the employees walked out or were locked out because of non negioation of the contact in time.  An extention would have saved your jobs.