Rio Tinto: Stakeholders Protest At Australian AGM

Trade unions, environment groups and indigenous people’s organisations today demonstrated peacefully in Melbourne, Australia, outside the Annual General Meeting of Rio Tinto.

The multinational, which is the world’s biggest private mining company, is facing a broad-based campaign against its environmental damage and its violations of human rights. In particular, its attacks on trade union rights in many parts of the world have made it a priority target for networking by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM).

Around 200 protesters in Melbourne today held placards saying "Union Rights Are Human Rights" and peacefully lined the route taken by shareholders attending the meeting. A large truck displayed posters saying "North, South, East, West – Rio Tinto Fails The Test".

All those attending the meeting were also given a copy of the major report on the company released by the ICEM – Rio Tinto – Tainted Titan – 1997 Stakeholders Report. Interestingly, a number of shareholders indicated they had already read the report via the Internet, as part of the ICEM’S Rio Tinto cybercampaign.

A large number of stakeholder campaigners – around 70 – entered the meeting proper, using small shareholdings or roxy forms. The total size of the meeting was between 400 and 500 people.

Australian miners’ leader John Maitland addressing protesters outside the Melbourne AGM.

Rio Tinto turned down his proposal that the company should sit down with the various stakeholder groups to discuss their allegations.

The meeting was conducted exclusively by John Uhrig, the chair of the Australian company. He allowed no other directors (all of whom were present) to answer questions. The chairman was questioned intensively by stakeholders over issues such as:

• relations with the Indonesian armed forces and human rights abuses around the Grasberg copper mine
• relations with Aboriginal people in Australia – particularly the distress and community division caused by the company’s negotiations around the Century Zinc proposal
• the Hunter Valley coal mine dispute and the refusal of the company to recognise the recent vote (93%) against the company’s proposal for a non-union enterprise agreement
• Rio Tinto’s persistent refusal to consider a return to collective bargaining at its Hamersley Iron operations despite a recent survey result showing that 80% of workers polled wanted to return to a collective bargaining process (and away from the individual staff contracts).
• the refusal of the company to link performance bonuses to such issues as environmental and human rights performance
• the refusal of the company to justify why its new bonus scheme rewarded directors for only average performance by the company.
• John Uhrig repeatedly fumbled and failed to answer questions. He frequently relied on pre-prepared replies to questions which did not actually answer the questioner. He did not appear to be a chair either in command of the meeting or in possession of the relevant facts about the company.

His conduct was often arrogant and patronising to questioners. John Ondawame, representative of the Amungme people from near the Grasberg mine in Indonesia, was especially poorly treated in this manner. Uhrig specifically singled out the "Tainted Titan" report and asked shareholders to note the company’s response. He also tried to make an issue of the disclaimer attached to the stakeholders’ report, but this point was refuted by Damien Roland of the ICEM who stated that the disclaimer was a standard one and similar to Rio Tinto’s own disclaimer on its web site.

The meeting concluded in some acrimony although the conduct of the overall meeting showed a very reasonable attempt by stakeholders to put their case. The chair concluded the meeting even though many questions remained unanswered. The final question allowed by the chair was from John Maitland. He is ICEM Vice-President and National Secretary of the ICEM-affiliated mining and allied workers’ union CFMEU. His union is currently facing one of Rio Tinto’s most sustained attempts to deunionise mines and end collective bargaining.

In his question to the AGM, Maitland proposed to Rio Tinto that it sit down with various stakeholder groups to discuss the allegations against the company. This proposal was rejected with a flat "no" by the chairman, who then went on to say they would only discuss matters with individual groups in isolation.