Fact Sheet June 2000

The RIO TINTO Campaign site

Rio Tinto Global Campaign Fact Sheet

Rio Tinto is one of the world's largest private mining corporations. The company focuses on large, long-term, low cost mining and minerals processing operations in aluminium, copper, energy (coal, uranium), gold, industrial minerals (borates, titanium dioxide feedstock, talc, diamonds) and iron ore.. Rio Tinto is most active in North America, Australia, South Africa and Indonesia with additional major assets in South America, Asia, and Europe. There are more than 60 operations in around 40 countries.

As a dual listed company, there are two primary corporate entities – Rio Tinto plc in the United Kingdom and Rio Tinto Ltd in Australia. The majority of the equity is in the British company, and all Executive Directors are based in the United Kingdom. The Rio Tinto Board of Directors is dominated by directors who are also full-time managers.

Rio Tinto is regarded by the financial markets, as one of the better performing mining companies. The company has broad exposure to a number of minerals and currencies and so it is not particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in one currency or mineral.

Rio Tinto workers produce tremendous income for the company – 35,000 workers produced income in 1999 of US$9,310 million – US $266,000 per worker.

As a global mining conglomerate, Rio Tinto wants absolute managerial control over production and regards unions as an impediment to this control. Over recent years, Rio Tinto has been consistently shrinking the workforce while increasing production at the mines – creating serious workload, health and safety and environmental problems for workers and their communities.

Rio Tinto operates uranium, titanium dioxide, coal, copper, nickel and gold mines in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. In South Africa, six years after the crumbling of legal apartheid, black miners are still forced to live in the old housing compounds away from their families – while white miners are given access to family housing. Rio Tinto's Rossing uranium mine in Namibia has been cited as one of the worst mines in the world in terms of worker health and safety. In the 1970's Rio Tinto violated UN sanctions while Namibia was illegally occupied by armed forces from the South African apartheid regime, and continued to sell uranium illegally.

In Australia, where Rio Tinto has massive iron ore, coal, aluminium, diamond, salt and gold operations, Rio Tinto is attempting to eliminate unions from its workplaces. Using the environment created by a conservative national government, (and management practices first developed at their Tiwai Point aluminium smelter in New Zealand) the company has developed an ongoing campaign of harassing and bribing individual miners in order to destroy collective agreements that have been in existence with the union for decades.

Many Australian union members in the Rio Tinto coal mines have been black listed and hundreds unfairly terminated, often because of their union activity. Within a period of six years, Rio Tinto has reduced the workforce in their coal operations by 28% and cut real wages by 20% causing tremendous harm to surrounding local communities.

In South America, Rio Tinto part owns one of the largest copper mines in the world – the Escondida mine in Chile – where the majority of workers are afraid to become involved in the union and have therefore requested help and support from the Rio Tinto Global Union Network. Rio Tinto also operates gold, borate, iron ore and nickel mines in Brazil and Argentina.

North America contains some of Rio Tinto's major assets. In the United States, Rio Tinto owns one of the most profitable borate mines in the world, as well as tremendous copper, coal, talc, diamond, silver, zinc and lead assets, mostly through its Borax and Kennecott subsidiaries. In Canada, Rio Tinto operates large titanium dioxide and diamond assets through the QIT and Diavik companies. In the United States, the majority of Rio Tinto's work sites are non -union due to aggressive tactics by the company to keep unions out.

In Southeast Asia, Rio Tinto is most active in Indonesia. It has a large stake in the Grasberg copper and gold mine, the Kaltim Prima coal mine, and the Kelian gold mines there. In addition, Rio Tinto has the Orissa iron ore deposits in India and the Lihir gold mine in Papua New Guinea. In Indonesia, the Grasberg mine has provided funds and equipment to the Indonesian military to secure its operations. The military have harassed, tortured and killed villagers. Mine expansion has caused tremendous environmental damage and displacement of indigenous peoples.

In Europe, Rio Tinto's major operations include the Talc de Luzenac in France, Euralluminia in Italy, Norzink zinc smelter in Norway, and Anglesey Aluminium in the United Kingdom. Rio Tinto's first mine was in Spain, where the company cooperated with General Franco in the 1930's to kill workers who became involved in the union.

Capper Pass is a major tin smelter in the United Kingdom that was closed down by Rio Tinto in 1991. After first denying any wrong doing, Rio Tinto has finally admitted that it has persistently violated health and safety and environmental laws at the smelter. Rio Tinto is now facing major legal liability from ex-workers, their families and their communities for cancer risk exposure and other major health and environmental problems.

The Rio Tinto Global Union Network was formed by the ICEM (International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions), which represents 20 million workers world wide. The Rio Tinto Global Union Network recognises the need for Rio Tinto to be an efficient and competitive producer of minerals and mineral products and wants to work with the company to that end. In order to do so, the company must recognise the right or workers to organise and bargain collectively for decent and safe conditions for themselves and their communities. Rio Tinto's often hostile actions to the collective bargaining rights of its workers has resulted in unnecessary lost production time and lost earnings, as well as expensive litigation and organisational costs to the company.

Rio Tinto must

Make a clear commitment to core International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions that protect basic workers rights (such as the right for workers to be represented by a union, the right to non-discrimination and abolition of child and forced labour) as part of a monitored global code of conduct.
And at the same time resolve its operational disputes with workers, whether it is over the right to collectively bargain for decent conditions in Australia, or the right for miners to live with their families in South Africa.

Rio Tinto Global Union Network

13428 Maxella Ave #153, Marina del Rey, California USA 90292

Tel: +1 310 827 2117 Fax: +1 310 822 0561 Email: tconrow@igc.org