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6 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 64/2000
Mining giant Rio Tinto has made an offer to settle a long-running dispute at its Mt. Thorley mine in Australia.
The news was announced this morning to a mass rally of striking mineworkers at the three Rio Tinto mines in Australia's Hunter Valley.
The company concession came on the eve of an international trade union action week on Rio Tinto. The action is planned from today onwards in countries ranging from Australia to the USA, South Africa, Chile and Brazil.
Rio Tinto has faced serious industrial disputes across all of its Australian coal mines since it sought to cease bargaining with unions and to push workers on to individual contracts - a process begun in 1993.
The company's offer at Mt. Thorley was made on Friday night, and now has to be put to the union membership. The mining union CFMEU is understood to have recommended acceptance. At the global level, the CFMEU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), with which it has been campaigning globally on the Rio Tinto issue. The campaign and the action week will be maintained while the union members take their decision on the Mt. Thorley offer.
The news was announced this morning to a mass rally of striking mineworkers at the three Rio Tinto mines in Australia's Hunter Valley.
The company concession came on the eve of an international trade union action week on Rio Tinto. The action is planned from today onwards in countries ranging from Australia to the USA, South Africa, Chile and Brazil.
Rio Tinto has faced serious industrial disputes across all of its Australian coal mines since it sought to cease bargaining with unions and to push workers on to individual contracts - a process begun in 1993.
The company's offer at Mt. Thorley was made on Friday night, and now has to be put to the union membership. The mining union CFMEU is understood to have recommended acceptance. At the global level, the CFMEU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), with which it has been campaigning globally on the Rio Tinto issue. The campaign and the action week will be maintained while the union members take their decision on the Mt. Thorley offer.