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11 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 16/1998
Launched in Sydney today, a new film on Rio Tinto exposes the damaging global activities of the world's biggest mining company.
The documentary, Naked Into The Jungle, highlights Rio Tinto's worldwide anti-union push and the impact that this policy is having on workers and communities. The company is also under fire from many community groups around the world because of its poor social and environmental record.
Produced for the Australian mining and allied workers' union CFMEU, the new film is part of a drive by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) to bring Rio Tinto to book. The multinational's anti-union stance in many parts of the world has made it a priority target for networking by ICEM-affiliated unions, of which the CFMEU is one.
Launching the film in Sydney today was Jennie George, President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
Australian miners are being subjected to one of Rio Tinto's most virulent union-busting campaigns to date. The documentary includes revealing footage of a presentation ceremony held by the management of Rio Tinto's Hunter Valley No. 1 mine in Australia last June. The inscription on the presentation plaque hails the "First Coal Mined at Hunter Valley No. 1 Mine by Non-Union Labour."
This distasteful little trophy gives the lie to Rio Tinto's protestations that it is not anti-union. It also sits very ill with the company's own statement of business principles. Entitled The Way We Work, Rio Tinto's in-house rulebook insists that "employees will have the right to choose whether or not they wish to be represented collectively." The same document states: "The Rio Tinto Group's policy on human rights is based on its support for the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights..." The Universal Declaration, whose fiftieth anniversay is being celebrated this year, specifically gives everyone the right to form and to join trade unions in defence of their interests.
"Rio Tinto likes to give the impression that the opposition it is encountering from this union is a one-off," commented John Maitland, CFMEU National Secretary and Vice-President of the ICEM. "The company likes to give the same view about all the disputes it is involved in with indigenous communities, human rights agencies, unions and environmental groups around the world.
"However," he added, "this documentary puts Rio Tinto's approach to its Australian workforce into a broader historical and global context. It exposes the company's systematic failure to meet accepted standards on human rights, including worker rights, and environmental protection."
The new documentary will be distributed and publicised worldwide.
"The video will go not only to communities which are already dealing with Rio Tinto," Maitland promised, "but also to communities in regions where Rio Tinto is considering setting up shop. That way people will have the measure of the organisation they are allowing into their neighbourhood."
Rio Tinto "should no longer work on the outmoded assumption that it is dealing with isolated and uninformed communities," Maitland warned. "The company should understand that from now on there is nowhere on this planet it can go where it will be free from scrutiny."
The documentary, Naked Into The Jungle, highlights Rio Tinto's worldwide anti-union push and the impact that this policy is having on workers and communities. The company is also under fire from many community groups around the world because of its poor social and environmental record.
Produced for the Australian mining and allied workers' union CFMEU, the new film is part of a drive by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) to bring Rio Tinto to book. The multinational's anti-union stance in many parts of the world has made it a priority target for networking by ICEM-affiliated unions, of which the CFMEU is one.
Launching the film in Sydney today was Jennie George, President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
Australian miners are being subjected to one of Rio Tinto's most virulent union-busting campaigns to date. The documentary includes revealing footage of a presentation ceremony held by the management of Rio Tinto's Hunter Valley No. 1 mine in Australia last June. The inscription on the presentation plaque hails the "First Coal Mined at Hunter Valley No. 1 Mine by Non-Union Labour."
This distasteful little trophy gives the lie to Rio Tinto's protestations that it is not anti-union. It also sits very ill with the company's own statement of business principles. Entitled The Way We Work, Rio Tinto's in-house rulebook insists that "employees will have the right to choose whether or not they wish to be represented collectively." The same document states: "The Rio Tinto Group's policy on human rights is based on its support for the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights..." The Universal Declaration, whose fiftieth anniversay is being celebrated this year, specifically gives everyone the right to form and to join trade unions in defence of their interests.
"Rio Tinto likes to give the impression that the opposition it is encountering from this union is a one-off," commented John Maitland, CFMEU National Secretary and Vice-President of the ICEM. "The company likes to give the same view about all the disputes it is involved in with indigenous communities, human rights agencies, unions and environmental groups around the world.
"However," he added, "this documentary puts Rio Tinto's approach to its Australian workforce into a broader historical and global context. It exposes the company's systematic failure to meet accepted standards on human rights, including worker rights, and environmental protection."
The new documentary will be distributed and publicised worldwide.
"The video will go not only to communities which are already dealing with Rio Tinto," Maitland promised, "but also to communities in regions where Rio Tinto is considering setting up shop. That way people will have the measure of the organisation they are allowing into their neighbourhood."
Rio Tinto "should no longer work on the outmoded assumption that it is dealing with isolated and uninformed communities," Maitland warned. "The company should understand that from now on there is nowhere on this planet it can go where it will be free from scrutiny."