Union backs striking miners

UK trade union activists staged a protest in the City of London today in support of striking mineworkers in Canada.

Unite said a series of demonstrations was being planned by global union Workers Uniting against the miners' employer Vale Inco.

Joint general secretary Derek Simpson said: "Vale Inco's mining operation in Canada is hugely profitable, yet they are putting the squeeze on our brothers and sisters in Workers Uniting to satisfy the insatiable appetite of the financial institutions that gave us the credit crunch."