Temporary Jobs - Construction

"At this early stage, we are estimating that the project would create as many as 2000 jobs during construction"....Alcoa . 

Alutrint's Smelter Project: 2,000 available Construction Jobs.
The Reality: 468 Construction Jobs to Locals, 1,741 Jobs to Foreign Labour.

Guess what, Union Village, you are not getting most of the promised construction jobs. The Alutrint proposal calls for 1,741 Chinese construction workers and only 468 local workers.

You've been fooled once, will you let Alcoa fool you too?

Permanent Jobs - Smelter Plant

Q: Would you really want to work there?

Is this the type of job you want where your health is in constant danger? An Alcoa's  Excerpt.... The company already limits the amount of time workers are allowed to spend in smelting areas and requires employees to wear respirators when working in them. Alcoa also uses ventilation to capture fumes that are released. New regulations will include increased handwashing and special protective clothing. Employees will also be barred from eating or smoking in work areas for fear that casual hand-to-mouth contact could increase their risk of exposure.

P Carta, of the Department of Public Health-Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Calgari, Italy (in GItal Med Lav Egron -01-APR-2004;26(2): 83-9) published an article Mortality for pancreatic cancer amoung aluminum smelter workers in Sardinia, Italy. The purpose of which was "to investigate the relationship between exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and mortality for specific cancer sites... The study found that even after controlling for cigarette smoking, the occupational PAH exposure experienced in the anodes factory was associated with a significantly increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

‘Materials typically emitted from aluminum smelters include: Arsenic & compounds, Chromium (VI) and compounds, Lead and compounds, Fluoride compounds, Polychlorinated dioxins and furans, Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Sulphur Dioxide’ (Australia National Pollution Inventory, Emission Estimation Technique Manual for Aluminum Smelting, 1999).

‘First of all, numerous studies have documented an increased cancer risk – particularly lung and bladder cancer –among workers in the aluminum industry…In December 1999, ALCOA sent a memo to its workforce across the globe, informing them that they were at increased risk of developing cancer – namely lung and bladder cancer’ (FAN Science Watch, “New Report Bolsters Fluoride Cancer Risk” May 20th 2004).

‘These findings amplify our previous observation of increased bladder cancer rates among cryolite workers…we therefore believe that fluoride should be considered a possible cause of bladder cancer and a contributory cause of primary lung cancer’. “Cryolite” is the term for “sodium aluminium fluoride”, molten cryolite is the main process ingredient in aluminium smelting. In this process it is kept in molten electrolytic state at a temperature of 960 degrees Celsius. Aluminium oxide (alumina) powder is added to this in numerous ‘pots’ in the ‘pot room’ (Extended follow-up of Cancer Incidence in Fluoride Exposed Workers. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 96: 802-803, Dr. Olsen Grandjean, 2004)

‘The first symptom of exposure to trace amounts of hydrogen fluoride are NOT physiological but psychological, and include such symptoms as confusion, fatigue, partial loss of memory and mental dullness. To put it another way, behaviour is exquisitely sensitive to minute traces of hydrogen fluoride (and other pollutants) in the environment.’…

‘Unfortunately, the tests to which chemical substances are subjected in efforts to determine their so called “maximum permissible doses or concentration” do not take into account possible changes in mental function, and also would often fails to pick up long-term or chronic effects on the organism’ (The Secret Wars and The Fluoride Conspiracy by Dr. Geoffrey E. Smith).

‘The results support previous findings that exposure to coal tar pitch volatiles in the aluminium industry has been associated with increased risk of bladder and lung cancer. They also add information about temporal relations suggesting that exposure to tar in this smelter has acted on an early stage in the development of these cancers, followed by a latency period of 30 to 40 years’ (Occup. Environ Med. 1995 Apr, 52(4):250-4 Titled: Mortality and cancer morbidity in workers from an aluminium smelter with pre-baked carbon anodes – Part II: Cancer morbidity by Ronneberg A. Anderson A. Cancer Registry of Norway, Institute of Epidemiological Cancer Research, Oslo).

‘The results support previous findings of an association between exposure to PAH and bladder cancer’ (Scand. J Work Environ Health 1999 Jun, 25(3) 207-14. Occupational exposure and cancer incidence among workers form an aluminium smelter in western Norway by Ronneberg A, Haldorsen T., Romundstad P., Andersen A. Cancer Registry of Norway, Institute of Epidemiological Cancer Research, Oslo).
 ‘The data support previous findings of increased mortality from ischaemic heart disease in workers exposed to tar, and some support is provided for earlier reports of increase respiratory mortality in pot room workers’ (Occup. Environ Med. 1995 Apr, 52(4): 255-61. Titled: Mortality and cancer morbidity in workers from an aluminium smelter with pre-baked carbon anodes-PART III: Mortality from circulatory and respiratory diseases by Ronnenberg A Cancer Registry of Norway, Institute of Epidemiological Cancer Research, Montebello, Oslo)

‘This paper reports on the inorganic particles in the lungs of four workers who died from lung cancer and one who died from mesothelioma. All five workers were involved in different operations and activities in aluminium reduction plants. Conclusions drawn from the evaluation of the particles retained in the lungs of only five workers must be cautious. However, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons may not be the only contaminants that could explain excess mortality from malignant lung neoplasm in aluminium smelter workers’ (Am. Ind. Hyg. Assoc J. 1996 April; 57(4):370-5 Inorganic Particles in the lungs of five aluminium smelter workers with pleuro-pulmonary cancer by Dufresne A, Loosereewanich P., Armstrong B., Theriault G., Begin R. Department of occupational Health McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada).

‘To investigate the relationship between exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and mortality for specific cancer sites, 1152 men, employed for at least one year at a pre-bake aluminium smelter were followed up from 1972 until 31st December 2001. They concluded, the relatively high exposure to PAHs, experienced in the anodes factory and particularly in the green-mill department of this pre-bake aluminium reduction plant, cannot be ruled out as one of the main factors in the multi factorial aetiology of the pancreatic cancers observed in this study’ (G Ital. Med Lav. Ergon. 2004 April to June: 26(2): 83-9. Mortality for pancreatic cancer among aluminium smelter workers in Italy. Carta P., Aru G., Cadeddu G., Gigli G., Papi G., Carta F., Nurchis P. Department of Public Health – Section of Occupational medicine, University of Cagliari, Italy).

‘This paper reviews the epidemiological evidence of cancer risks among workers in aluminium reduction plants with emphasis on associations with specific work areas and exposures. Studies of workers manufacturing carbon products outside the aluminium industry were also reviewed since the work environment is similar to that encountered in the carbon area of aluminium plants. ‘Singular results showed associations between lung cancer risk and tar exposure in Soderberg plants, and between lung cancer and work in pre-bake carbon plants, but interpretation was limited by inadequate data on smoking and asbestos exposure, and by problems connected with the choice of reference populations in these studies’ (American Journal Industrial Medicine 1992;22(4): 573-90: Epidemiological Evidence of Cancer in Aluminium Reduction Plant Workers by Ronneberg A., Langmark F. Cancer Registry of Norway, Institute of Epidemiological Cancer Research, Oslo).

This article below gives an example from Noranda's Smelter Plant in Chile

Noranda, from Canada to Patagonia, a Life of Crime
One of the world’s largest integrated mining and metals companies, the Canadian-founded Noranda, Inc. has left a trail of pollution across the Americas. Noranda has accumulated over US$1.2 million of fines for breaching environmental regulations in Canada alone and in 1998 its arsenic and lead emissions were the highest in the country.

Dismal though Noranda’s environmental record is, it continues to seek approval for what is likely to be one of its most destructive projects ever, a massive aluminum plant in the pristine wilderness of Patagonia in Chile. The Alumysa Project will involve the construction of six largescale hydroelectric dams to power an aluminum smelter that will emit 1.5 million tonnes of gaseous and solid waste each year.

Noranda’s proposed location for Alumysa is the densely forested region of Aysén, home to the endangered Huemul (South Andean deer) and the Colo Colo Pampas cat, among other threatened and rare species. Aysén is a landscape of glaciers, unpolluted lakes and rivers and a wealth of ancient forest. Its ecosystem supports a human population dependent largely on eco-tourism, fishing and farming for its livelihood. Wishing to preserve and expand their potential to live sustainably, its inhabitants have declared Aysén a Reserve of Life.

Noranda argues that Alumysa will bring jobs and economic prosperity to Aysén. In reality only ten percent of jobs created will be offered to local people. Of the US$290 million per year the project is expected to generate, less than five percent will remain in the local economy, while Chile’s Treasury will receive less than 18 percent.

However, as the financial costs of operating in North America have mounted, Noranda has shifted its focus towards countries where labour is cheaper and environmental regulations are more lenient. Even these lower standards are too much for Noranda. In a 2002 Prospectus, Noranda indicated that it may not be able to comply with Chilean environmental regulations at its global operations, and that to do so may “materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations.”

Over time, Chile has become the heart of Noranda’s investment strategy. Chile’s eagerness for economic growth has led it to accept projects such as Alumysa, which would not be permitted elsewhere because of social and environmental concerns. However, in August 2003, following a visit to the Aysén region, the Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar suggested that another site should be found for the project. A few days later, Noranda decided to “temporarily suspend” its official application for the Alumysa project, but would continue to work to overcome these new “obstacles.”

While the future of the Alumysa project on the face of it looks uncertain, the reality behind the scenes is very different. Noranda continues to pursue its goal of building the Alumysa project in Patagonia by quietly working with the few allies it has within the Chilean government, and is a long way from dropping this project. Additionally the Chilean government has not yet established any formal protection against this kind of industrial development in Patagonia. Until these two issues are addressed, the future of this Patagonian ancient forest itself remains uncertain. Rich in forests, properties of local landholders would be flooded if the Alumysa Project is given approval. The ‘Reserve of Life’, proposed by the communities of Aysén, would provide essential protection for the Huemel, which is under threat of extinction.....

Source : Greenpeace International