Read this article in:
23 August, 2005ICEM News Release No. 75/1999
In a major rebuff to the Australian government, the OECD has criticised its handling of a complaint on breaches of OECD guidelines by global minerals giant Rio Tinto. The Australian government will now have to deal with the complaint on its merits - and this could mean further trouble for the company.
A senior intergovernmental committee of the OECD - the Committee on Investment and Multinational Enterprises - issued a ruling on 10 December in Paris that has now been released publicly. It deals with a formal complaint lodged by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) in April 1998 regarding Rio Tinto's multiple breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises - a voluntary code with which the company claims it complies. The OECD Guidelines require that companies respect the rights of their employees to bargain collectively and promote collective bargaining.
Rio Tinto has been embroiled in a series of major industrial disputes in Australia, essentially over its attempts to deunionise its operations there.
The Australian government rejected the ACTU's complaint in February 1999, claiming that Rio Tinto compliance with Australian law was sufficient to comply with the Guidelines. It also argued that Rio Tinto was not really a multinational enterprise - even though it has over 60 operations in some 40 countries and all senior management in its London head office. The government refused to deal with the substance of the complaints.
The ACTU therefore took the matter directly to the OECD, which has ruled the Australian government is wrong on both counts.
John Maitland, National Secretary of Australian mining union the CFMEU, described the result as a victory for unions and a major international embarrassment to the Australian government.
Maitland is also President of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the CFMEU is affiliated at the global level. Together with a broad alliance of campaigning organisations, the ICEM has been pressing Rio Tinto to improve its respect for the environment and for human rights worldwide, notably trade union rights and the rights of indigenous peoples.
"On the advice of Rio Tinto and [Australian industrial relations minister] Peter Reith, the Australian government thought it could escape its obligations to apply OECD standards for trade union rights through the spurious use of technicalities," Maitland said. "Instead, the OECD effectively said 'no way'. The ACTU has cited independent findings of conduct that constitute multiple breaches of the OECD Guidelines by Rio Tinto and these must now be dealt with.
"The outstanding question now," Maitland insisted, "is whether the coalition government is going to stick with their big business mates in flouting OECD standards. Or are they going to finally live up their responsibilities as a member government of the OECD?"
The OECD ruling creates further difficulties for Rio Tinto, coming on the heels of allegations in the United Kingdom over serious pollution at the company's former Capper Pass tin smelter, and litigation by environmental and indigenous groups in Canada over its Diavik diamond mine.
An ICEM meeting of unions from Rio Tinto's operations worldwide will be hosted in Australia next February by the CFMEU.
A senior intergovernmental committee of the OECD - the Committee on Investment and Multinational Enterprises - issued a ruling on 10 December in Paris that has now been released publicly. It deals with a formal complaint lodged by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) in April 1998 regarding Rio Tinto's multiple breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises - a voluntary code with which the company claims it complies. The OECD Guidelines require that companies respect the rights of their employees to bargain collectively and promote collective bargaining.
Rio Tinto has been embroiled in a series of major industrial disputes in Australia, essentially over its attempts to deunionise its operations there.
The Australian government rejected the ACTU's complaint in February 1999, claiming that Rio Tinto compliance with Australian law was sufficient to comply with the Guidelines. It also argued that Rio Tinto was not really a multinational enterprise - even though it has over 60 operations in some 40 countries and all senior management in its London head office. The government refused to deal with the substance of the complaints.
The ACTU therefore took the matter directly to the OECD, which has ruled the Australian government is wrong on both counts.
John Maitland, National Secretary of Australian mining union the CFMEU, described the result as a victory for unions and a major international embarrassment to the Australian government.
Maitland is also President of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the CFMEU is affiliated at the global level. Together with a broad alliance of campaigning organisations, the ICEM has been pressing Rio Tinto to improve its respect for the environment and for human rights worldwide, notably trade union rights and the rights of indigenous peoples.
"On the advice of Rio Tinto and [Australian industrial relations minister] Peter Reith, the Australian government thought it could escape its obligations to apply OECD standards for trade union rights through the spurious use of technicalities," Maitland said. "Instead, the OECD effectively said 'no way'. The ACTU has cited independent findings of conduct that constitute multiple breaches of the OECD Guidelines by Rio Tinto and these must now be dealt with.
"The outstanding question now," Maitland insisted, "is whether the coalition government is going to stick with their big business mates in flouting OECD standards. Or are they going to finally live up their responsibilities as a member government of the OECD?"
The OECD ruling creates further difficulties for Rio Tinto, coming on the heels of allegations in the United Kingdom over serious pollution at the company's former Capper Pass tin smelter, and litigation by environmental and indigenous groups in Canada over its Diavik diamond mine.
An ICEM meeting of unions from Rio Tinto's operations worldwide will be hosted in Australia next February by the CFMEU.