Rio Tinto AGM Faces Protests Over Rights Abuses

Rio Tinto, the world's biggest mining corporation, will face protests from a broad alliance of international campaigning organisations inside and outside its Annual General Meeting at London's Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre tomorrow 12 May.

Prominent among the protesters is the Australian miners' union CFMEU and its supporters from the UK and other countries. The unions are targeting Rio Tinto's continued refusal to recognise basic trade union rights in its Australian operations.

Leading the Australian contingent is CFMEU National Secretary John Maitland. He is also Vice-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. Maitland commented:

"Rio Tinto continues to use labour laws in Australia which in March of 1998 were found by a committee of experts of the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) to violate international standards on collective bargaining rights and freedom of association. Rio Tinto is directly implicated in this because they helped the Australian government to draft this legislation. Since the ILO ruling, Rio Tinto has neither apologised nor sought to reverse its input into the Australian government's breach of international law.

"Rather, the company is actively seeking to deunionise its Australian operations by replacing unionised workers with non-union labour and by forcing workers onto individual employment contracts instead of trade union collective agreements."

ICEM British Vice-President Fred Higgs announced today that the ICEM had discussed the Australian situation with Rio Tinto CEO Leon Davis at a recent meeting. "We offered the services of the ICEM to find a resolution to the issues in Australia," Higgs said. "We are extremely disappointed that Rio Tinto has not so far taken up this offer, and we will continue to campaign on behalf of our Australian affiliate."

• A Stakeholders' Report on Rio Tinto will be distributed to shareholders and others at the AGM tomorrow. Published by the ICEM in cooperation with a wide range of organisations campaigning on rights and environmental issues, the report severely criticises Rio Tinto's performance in many parts of the world. It also raises questions about the company's non-standard reporting of profits and the sustainability of its current dividend pay-outs.
• A motion was tabled in Britain's House of Commons today criticising Rio Tinto's human rights performance and calling on the British government to press the company to comply with international standards. Rio Tinto is headquartered in London. The Commons motion was brought in by Labour Member of Parliament Michael Clapham and others.
• This week, US unions in Rio Tinto operations agreed to step up their participation in the worldwide campaign.