Read this article in:
11 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 34/1998
Already seriously damaged by the collapse of its bid to deunionise the country's ports, the Australian federal government now faces searching questions over its very close relationship with the world's biggest mining company, union-hostile Rio Tinto.
A crushing victory has been won in the courts by the port workers' Maritime Union of Australia (MUA). The judges ruled that the mass sacking of dockers by Patrick Stevedores, the country's second-biggest stevedoring firm, was illegal. The court ordered the workers' reinstatement.
The Howard government - and particularly Peter Reith, the Federal Minister for Workplace Relations and Small Business - had strongly backed Patrick Stevedores' attempt to deunionise the ports by sacking its workforce and bringing in non-union strikebreakers. The courts are now moving on to examine charges of an illegal conspiracy between Patrick and the government, and the judges have already indicated that there is a strong case to be answered on that.
All of which leaves the Australian government's union-busting laws in tatters. Rio Tinto played a decisive part in the drafting of that legislation, which was recently condemned by an international panel of lawyers within the UN's International Labour Organisation. The ILO lawyers ruled that the legislation breaches international labour rights conventions ratified by Australia.
Minister Peter Reith, whose future hangs in the balance, will now have to deal with some awkward parliamentary questions about the government's relations with Rio Tinto.
Among the questions put to the minister by Australian Member of Parliament Bob Brown [direct quotes]:
Has his attention been drawn to claims that Rio Tinto (a) has earned a reputation for conflict with local communities, trade unions, human rights and environmental groups in places where it is engaged in mining and (b) is being sued in the UK for compensation for cancer allegedly resulting from working conditions at its uranium operations in Namibia?
Has his attention also been drawn to criticism of Rio Tinto by Amnesty International and the Australian arm of Oxfam for its treatment of indigenous people in Indonesia?
Is it a fact that Rio Tinto (a) is attempting to de-unionise its operations in Australia and (b) has made awards to workers at an Australian coal mine for producing coal without union involvement?
Did Rio Tinto provide specialist staff to assist the Government to draft industrial legislation; if so, was the legislation subsequently found by the International Labour Organisation Committee of Experts to breach international labour law regarding the right of workers to organise and bargain collectively?
What measures will the Government implement to ensure that Rio Tinto operates in Australia (a) with full respect for human rights and labour rights and (b) to high standards for occupational health and safety and environmental protection?
[end of quotes]
Parliamentary questions in countries where Rio Tinto operates are part of a global campaign to drum some ethics into the multinational's operations worldwide. 29 British parliamentarians recently signed up to a highly critical motion about Rio Tinto (see ICEM UPDATE 24/1998). The company's global corporate headquarters is in London.
The multinational's anti-union stance in many parts of the world has made it a priority target for a global trade union campaign coordinated by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
The ICEM and its worldwide affiliates, including Australian mining and allied workers' union the CFMEU, are allying themselves with a wide range of campaigning organisations on environmental issues and human rights, notably worker rights and indigenous people's rights. Rio Tinto is currently under heavy fire on all these counts.
In Australia, the company is attempting to de-unionise its mines and end collective bargaining there. This has been made easier by the Howard government's industrial legislation. Rio Tinto executive Mike Angwin was loaned to the government to help draft this law.
This week, meanwhile, Rio Tinto faced the latest in a long string of worldwide industrial problems when workers at its part-owned Lihir goldmine in Papua New Guinea walked off the job in a dispute over risk allowances and unhealthy working conditions.
A crushing victory has been won in the courts by the port workers' Maritime Union of Australia (MUA). The judges ruled that the mass sacking of dockers by Patrick Stevedores, the country's second-biggest stevedoring firm, was illegal. The court ordered the workers' reinstatement.
The Howard government - and particularly Peter Reith, the Federal Minister for Workplace Relations and Small Business - had strongly backed Patrick Stevedores' attempt to deunionise the ports by sacking its workforce and bringing in non-union strikebreakers. The courts are now moving on to examine charges of an illegal conspiracy between Patrick and the government, and the judges have already indicated that there is a strong case to be answered on that.
All of which leaves the Australian government's union-busting laws in tatters. Rio Tinto played a decisive part in the drafting of that legislation, which was recently condemned by an international panel of lawyers within the UN's International Labour Organisation. The ILO lawyers ruled that the legislation breaches international labour rights conventions ratified by Australia.
Minister Peter Reith, whose future hangs in the balance, will now have to deal with some awkward parliamentary questions about the government's relations with Rio Tinto.
Among the questions put to the minister by Australian Member of Parliament Bob Brown [direct quotes]:
Has his attention been drawn to claims that Rio Tinto (a) has earned a reputation for conflict with local communities, trade unions, human rights and environmental groups in places where it is engaged in mining and (b) is being sued in the UK for compensation for cancer allegedly resulting from working conditions at its uranium operations in Namibia?
Has his attention also been drawn to criticism of Rio Tinto by Amnesty International and the Australian arm of Oxfam for its treatment of indigenous people in Indonesia?
Is it a fact that Rio Tinto (a) is attempting to de-unionise its operations in Australia and (b) has made awards to workers at an Australian coal mine for producing coal without union involvement?
Did Rio Tinto provide specialist staff to assist the Government to draft industrial legislation; if so, was the legislation subsequently found by the International Labour Organisation Committee of Experts to breach international labour law regarding the right of workers to organise and bargain collectively?
What measures will the Government implement to ensure that Rio Tinto operates in Australia (a) with full respect for human rights and labour rights and (b) to high standards for occupational health and safety and environmental protection?
[end of quotes]
Parliamentary questions in countries where Rio Tinto operates are part of a global campaign to drum some ethics into the multinational's operations worldwide. 29 British parliamentarians recently signed up to a highly critical motion about Rio Tinto (see ICEM UPDATE 24/1998). The company's global corporate headquarters is in London.
The multinational's anti-union stance in many parts of the world has made it a priority target for a global trade union campaign coordinated by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
The ICEM and its worldwide affiliates, including Australian mining and allied workers' union the CFMEU, are allying themselves with a wide range of campaigning organisations on environmental issues and human rights, notably worker rights and indigenous people's rights. Rio Tinto is currently under heavy fire on all these counts.
In Australia, the company is attempting to de-unionise its mines and end collective bargaining there. This has been made easier by the Howard government's industrial legislation. Rio Tinto executive Mike Angwin was loaned to the government to help draft this law.
This week, meanwhile, Rio Tinto faced the latest in a long string of worldwide industrial problems when workers at its part-owned Lihir goldmine in Papua New Guinea walked off the job in a dispute over risk allowances and unhealthy working conditions.