IMF affiliates back AWU campaign against Rio Tinto/Alcan

AUSTRALIA: Labour rights violations at Rio Tinto/Alcan operations in Australia have gained international attention and support for IMF affiliate the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) who are fighting the company for fair wages, improved health and safety standards and a workers’ right to join a union.

The AWU’s organizing drive at Rio Tinto/Alcan operations in Tasmania and Queensland has been met with fierce resistance from management, despite pressure from inside and outside of Australia calling on the company to respect internationally recognized labour rights.

The list of violations at the Bell Bay aluminum smelter in Tasmania, Australia includes:

• reports that local workers have been harassed and intimidated for their efforts in trying to form a union,
• workers are paid substantially less than their counterparts in other parts of Australia, in some case in excess of 20,000 AUD,
• denying the AWU the right to meet with workers concerned about Occupational Health and Safety issues.

On March 22, a new national television campaign was launched in Tasmania by the AWU National Secretary, Paul Howes, to highlight how the global giant Rio Tinto is discriminating against its Tasmanian workforce. The television ads, to be run on Tasmanian television and nationally on Sky News, over the next two weeks, was first shown to meetings of Rio’s Bell Bay Tasmania workforce during a three-day tour of Tasmanian workplaces by Howes.

The IMF and Rio Tinto/Alcan unions from Brazil, France, South Africa, UK, the U.S. and Zimbabwe have sent letters to the company’s CEO Tom Albanese, demanding the company recognize international labour standards.

"We call on you to immediately intervene to ensure that these workers are allowed to form a union, free from the intimidation of management, and negotiate a collective agreement if they so wish. These rights are clearly stated in the International Labour Organisation’s Conventions," stated Jyrki Raina IMF General Secretary in a letter to Albanese.