CHILE A NEW START Above is a picture of the worker’s march we participated in. Hello my name is Richard Merrick .ON SEPTEMBER 3 2014 I Arrived in Santiago Chile as part of a five person delegation sponsored by the humanity fund of the United Steelworkers of Canada. One of the first things we did was to march with the unions of Chile to pressure the government to change the laws for labour reform, tax reform, and free education for the youth of Chile. There was around 10 thousand people in the march we were given the privilege to lead which was a great honor for us. Above is a picture of Santiago, Chile. The next day we met with the leaders of the mining and industrial unions and they conveyed to us the hope for legislation to change the repressive labour laws of Chile .We were told the truck drivers who work high in the mines worked under extreme conditions and at high altitudes the couldn’t sleep properly because they couldn’t go into the deep sleep a very dangerous problem They told us the CUT which is the Chilean equivalent of the Canadian Labour Congress was in direct negotiations with the government of Chile. The president of Chile Michelle Bachelet was elected with the promise to work with government to make these reforms possible. We were told by that the government still has a strong right component making reforms very difficult. Already the tax reform has passed into legislation and this will help to spread the wealth more fairly to the Chilean people. In October the labour reforms will be debated with the government we hope that they can change their repressive labour laws. The next day we drove up to the top to a mountain in the middle of million people. We were told that only 30 % of the people were doing well financially so that is 1.5 million people who are ok and 3.5 million who are not doing that well The city appears modern and new but many of the population are suffering. The same day we met with Juan Pablo Orrego who has been fighting to protect Chile’s Patagonia region for over 20 years. He has written books and won the prestigious Goldman environmental prize. He told us the water situation in Chile. Chile’s water is mostly owned by private companies and is under constant threat from over use by mining and forestry companies. He was part of a coalition of environmental groups was able to stop the building of 5 dams which would have destroyed the Patagonia’s environmental cultural and ecotourism possibilities. I am glad he is continuing to fight for Chiles water resources. Above is a picture of Juan Pablo Orrego The next day we drove out to the ocean to see the house of Pablo Neruda. We drove along this brand new highway through two mountain tunnels a marvel of engineering paid for by the three toll booths we had to stop for. You see the road is owned by a private company and the round trip cost 30 Canadian dollars. I am so glad that isn’t that popular here. The home of Pablo Neruda who is the most famous Chilean poet was very fascinating, he collected many wonderful artifacts. He was world renowned for his poetry and had to flee the country for his political beliefs which were left leaning towards the communist party. Neruda died just 2years after receiving the Nobel peace prize in 1971 under mysterious circumstances. Then we flew to Conception Chile’s 2nd largest city with a population of 1million people including the province of conception. The general population of Chile is growing at slow rate due to a high life expectancy of 77.53 years and may have a labour shortage in years to come. When we left our hotel we found the city seemed to be in a lock down state it was on a Sunday my guess it was for religious reasons .We finally found a mall and had some authentic Chilean fast food lol. One of the things we found was there were a lot of scotia banks in Chile and a lot of Canadian companies operating in Chile taking advantage of cheap labour and market conditions. In Conception we had our meeting with the CTF which stands for the Confederacion de Trabafadores Forestales de Chile, or the forestry workers union which is receiving assistance from the humanity fund. Pictured above is the delegation for the CTF One of our meetings was held in a hospital conference room in an effort from both parties making meetings affordable until the new hall is built. In the picture above I am in the red jacket, to my right is Sergio Ortiz who is president, and on my left is Jorge Gonzalez Castillo vice president of the ctf. On the right chair is Brian O’ Rourke and to the left of the sign is John Maximenko to his right Sergio the driver, next to him Jorge Orgales our mentor translator and good friend next to him is Scott McRitche. The rest of the people are from the union we are building the hall for, in a partnership started by retired brother Joe Decosta. The agreement was first started in 1997 The alliance and friendship we have developed with the CTF union and the other unions goes a long way in challenging the globalization issue the companies use in the race to the bottom in terms of labour costs and the treatment of workers and misuse of the environment. The CTF is a fighting union like the steelworkers they took on Aralko. After the meeting we went to our humble accommodations in a town called Lota as we waited to start the construction phase of our trip. We weren’t able to start working our first day because of permits and delays so we went to a mine in Lota from the late 1800s. On our mine tour we got to see firsthand the horrible conditions coal miners had to endure. The mine was called the devils whistle and the miners said they saw the devil in the mine when the mine had fires. Almost all the workers that started in the mine worked until they died. We certainly have come a long way since those days. Pictured above is the guide of “Devil’s Whistle Mine Tour” It would be impossible in a report about Chile not to mention the military coup that caused the death of then president Salvador Allende and countless others September 11 1973. The takeover of the government by General Augusto Pinochet plunged the country into a devastating nightmare of massive unemployment destroying unions, human rights and anybody who spoke out against the government disappeared not just them but the family too .Without unions to provide a good capital base for a middle class the countries unemployment went to 24 percent. They openly tortured people who spoke out and targeted union leaders. They outlawed unions and took away their property. Tens of thousands were arrested and held in prison camps many were self-exiled. For 25 years the people suffered under Pinochet until elections were held and he was voted out. Since then the unions were given back their property or a substitute not necessarily one they started with so they could start the long slow process of rebuilding their society. Above: Memorial of the disappeared. The above picture we are at a memorial for one of the members of the CTF whose father law who burned himself alive because his children were disappeared. This is one of the ways that the people can heal while remembering the past so it never can be repeated. Here we are at the building site we spent about 3 days building the old fashioned way with hammer and 4inch spikes we hope that our efforts which ere mostly symbolic will translate into the spirit which we have here in Canada to share with our Chilean brothers and sisters. The building will be for training and building of a strong ctf. Some of the people will travel by bus for over8 hrs to attend schoThat is true union spirit. Here we are with the mapuche spiritual leader who told us a buiseness man showed ulp with a title to their land which conveniently was on the future development of a coal generating plant. They were forced off their land. They had lived on their land before the egyptians built the pyramids. So after court battles and the loss of life the mapuches were given some land. It was not their original land so the Mapuche wil have to reestablish a new spirituality if it is possible.The new property isnt as suitable for growing crops so they will have to adapt to some new ideas for growing food, there will be aproximatly 75 more people comeing to the land and they will have to build a lodge to house their people Then the can start to repair the damage done by the corrupt former government of Chile . So in conclusion our trip to Chile was an eye opener for me and my steelworker comrads.Our 10 days were jam packed with so many experiances it would take months to put it into proper perspective. I would like to thank our drivers Sergio and Felipe for the thrill rides as well as the wealth of information you provided for us. I would also like to thank Carlos Torres for giving us such a great cultural experience from the wines to the statues we were given a million dolla r tour.The steelworker humanity fund gives a unique opportunity to experience the unions of workers from other countries while at the same time helping them with our knowledge in growing and educating the members. I see great hope for the unions of Chile like a phoenix rising from the ashes they may actualaly make a real difference to all the people of Chile by creating a real middle class freeing literally millions of people from poverty.I would also like to thank Jorge Orgales and the selection committee for choosing us to be the abassadors for our union. I would like to encourage any locals who have not signed up to consider joining the humanity fund the world is globalized and by raising up other unions we create a world that is fair for all, not just the rich.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 21:04:03 +0000
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