Rio Tinto 1999 AGM reports

The RIO TINTO Campaign

Protests at 1999 Annual General Meetings

There is only one time each year when the Board of Directors of a big multinational cororation have to present themselves for public scrutiny. Even then it's not the general public - only the ordinary shareholders of the company. Stakeholders in the company who rarely or never get the chance for dialogue with management can voice their concerns at the meeting if they buy shares in the company or gain the support of a shareholder.

Rio Tinto has had protests at its AGMs for many years - dating back at least to its period in breaking international law during the 1970s and 1980s when it defied UN anti-apartheid sanctions by mining uranium in South-West Africa (now Namibia).

In 1999 the CFMEU again joined environment, development and other community campaign groups in protesting at the Annual General Meetings of Rio Tinto in London on 12 May and in Perth (Australia) on 27 May.

The Australian AGM

Rio Tinto in Australia has its head office in Melbourne, the traditional head office for multinational mining companies in this country. The AGM is therefore also normally held in Melbourne. But the protests over the years must have started getting to the company, because it decided to shift the AGM to Perth in the far west of the country, a long way from the offices and homes of most shareholders. They were clearly hoping that protesters might have a hard time being there too. They were wrong . . .

Some of the 300 people who braved a cold and wet morning to protest outside the Rio Tinto AGM in Perth

The Iinternational Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers Unions provided this media release:

ICEM UPDATE

No. 28/1999

27 May 1999

The following is from the International Federation of Chemical, Energy,
Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM):

PROTESTS AT RIO TINTO'S AUSTRALIAN AGM

Hundreds of demonstrators braved heavy rain in Perth, Australia, this morning to protest against human rights abuses by the world's biggest mining company, Rio Tinto.

The demo took place as shareholders filed into the company's Annual General Meeting. Demonstrators included trade unionists protesting over Rio Tinto's industrial relations policies in Australia and elsewhere.

Rio Tinto is currently embroiled in a number of industrial disputes in Australia, essentially over the company's attempts to deunionise its mining operations there and move away from collective agreements.

Inside the AGM, 90% of the questions raised by shareholders were critical of Rio Tinto's financial performance and policies. Questioners cited the company's links with human rights abuses, its failure to honour internationally recognised labour standards, its continued environmental destruction and its deteriorating record on health and safety.

Despite the concerns which dominated the meeting, Rio Tinto chairman Robert Wilson refused a request to make a transcript of the AGM available.

A transcript would have enabled Rio Tinto shareholders and stakeholders throughout the world to read what the directors reported to the Perth AGM and what concerns the shareholders expressed there.

Tony Maher, General President of the Mining and Energy Division of Australia's Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), attended the AGM. He condemned Rio Tinto's refusal to make the proceedings publicly available.

"Rio Tinto claims it has a policy of transparency," Maher pointed out. "So what is it afraid of? It is no big deal these days to post the transcript on the Internet or indeed to make copies available to its shareholders and other interested parties.

"What is Rio Tinto trying to hide? Why won't it come clean?"

At the global level, the CFMEU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).

Maher warned that the CFMEU and the ICEM will continue to work with human rights, indigenous and environmental organisations to campaign for Rio Tinto to accept UN-backed international standards at all its operations.

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For a copy of the questions that were asked in the AGM, click here. We're still waiting for satisfactory answers.

More protesters at the rally outside the Perth AGM

CFMEU Mining & Energy Division General President Tony Maher addressing the rally

The London AGM

The following was issued by the ICEM in the run-up to the London protest on 12 May.

ICEM UPDATE

No. 24/1999

11 May 1999

The following is from the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM):

RIO TINTO AGM FACES PROTESTS OVER RIGHTS ABUSES
STAKEHOLDERS' REPORT QUESTIONS COMPANY'S NON-STANDARD PROFITS REPORTING
AND DIVIDEND LEVELS
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."

Further news:

- 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.
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CFMEU National Secretary John Maitland (left) and TGWU Assistant Secretary Fred Higgs outside the London AGM