On the 2nd day of the month, the Rio-Tinto Company began the dismissal of workers from the mines, an action of which our readers are aware, as the company is to reduce its workshops by half and, consequently, its mineral extraction for them. Over two hundred were dismissed on that day; some of these approached the Director of the establishment, entreating him to provide the means for a commission to travel to Huelva with the objective of presenting to the authorities and influential persons the sorrowful situation in which so many unfortunate souls were left due to the lack of work. The Director did not hesitate for a moment in acceding to such a simple and just petition, considering it a duty of humanity, and imposed only the condition that the commission be few in number and composed of sensible and prudent individuals. There were eleven in total, who were provided with passes and arrived on the Rio-Tinto train at ten o’clock on Saturday morning, proceeding shortly thereafter to the residence of Mr. Guillermo Sundheim, who received them and took charge of hearing their grievances.
The commissioners came essentially to tell him that they were aware of his sentiments and of the great influence he wielded within the Rio-Tinto Company, and for these reasons, they ventured to approach him to implore that he exercise said influence to the end of ensuring that their comrades might return to work. Mr. Sundheim stated, more or less, that long before this conflict arose, he took every step possible to avert it; that he saw the ministers on several occasions, held conferences with the President of the Government, and was unable to achieve anything; that while he deplored what was occurring and lamented being unable to prevent it through his efforts, the company would not yield a different result because it is absurd to ask an enterprise, when forced to diminish its operations and consequently suffer a reduction in income, to maintain a staff it does not require. He added that in all the interviews he had held with Mr. Sagasta, the latter had always maintained that the Government, in reducing the calcinations, was acting upon the repeated and unanimous instances of the province’s representatives in the Cortes; consequently, those who have provoked the conflict should know what means they possess to avoid its dire consequences. He exhorted the commissioners to maintain moderate conduct and, both to serve as a guide and to prevent any overstepping of bounds, he requested Mr. Enrique Gomes, the company’s procurator, to accompany them wherever they wished to go and act as an interpreter for their complaints.
The commissioners went to the house of the President of the League, but they were told he was in Seville. They then went to the residence of Mr. Manuel Vazquez Lopez, the only representative of the province in the Cortes currently in the city. Due to a recent misfortune afflicting said gentleman, he was unable to hear them; they were received by his brother, Mr. Felipe, who directed them to the Civil Government. They visited the editorial office of “El Reformista,” whose director told them he was a farmer and a miner, that he loved both agricultural and mining workers, and desired their prosperous and peaceful coexistence. He expressed regret for their situation but remarked that there were many laborers in La Nava and that in Riotinto (it seems) there also appeared to be work, etc.
After leaving there, they went to see the Governor, who gave them vague hopes of work for the future, telling them that several auctions for public works in the province had already been announced. He expressed his surprise that if calcinations were reduced in the mines, it should be necessary to dismiss so many people; “for what,” he asked, “do the teleras require so much personnel?” The workers replied to him: for the surveillance and care of the teleras, certainly, such a large staff is not needed, but the teleras do not create themselves; to make them, it is necessary to break the ore, extract it, sort it, and convey it to the calcination grounds, and form the heaps; and after they are calcined, another portion of manipulations is required; and for all of this, tools, machines, trains, etc., are needed, and all of these in turn require maintenance and repairs, and hence the workshops. It is all a single chain where, if one service is harmed, all others are harmed as well.
