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Vote to condemn Rio Tinto as Olympics medals provider

14 June, 2012IMF, ICEM and ITGLWF call on affiliates to cast their votes for Rio Tinto in the Greenwash Gold awards, being held to shine a light on companies sponsoring the Olympics 2012 while at the same time damaging the environment and communities.

UNITED KINGDOM: Affiliates of the ICEM, IMF, and ITGLWF are uniting in action around the world in support of the United Steelworkers (USW) campaign to push Rio Tinto "Off the Podium".

Scores of affiliates are writing to and taking action at the national representatives of the International Olympics Committee in their home countries. Take another action now to express our collective anger that Rio Tinto can tarnish the London Olympics with their abuse of worker rights and the environment, by casting your vote here.

As has been widely reported, the metal used for medals at the upcoming London Olympics comes from Rio Tinto's Kennecott Bingham Canyon mine in Utah, USA, and its Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia.

A great advert for the mining conglomerate, scandalously linking Rio Tinto to the high ideals of the Olympic games. The multinational has a record of catastrophic pollution, and violation of human rights and public health. But the lockout of 780 workers at the aluminium smelter in Alma, Quebec has particularly angered the international trade union movement, as workers there are being punished for rejecting management attempts to halve salaries and outsource the workforce.

The Kennecott union, USW Local 392, whose members mined the metal for the majority of the 4,700 medals also want the company "Off the Podium" because of the labour violations in Alma. 

Vote now on the London Mining Network's campaign, the Greenwash Gold Awards, and ensure Rio Tinto is properly portrayed as a company not deserving of a relationship with the Olympics.