The Western Mine Workers\u2019 Alliance is calling on Australia\u2019s largest superannuation funds to pressure Rio Tinto over the mining giant\u2019s appalling workplace culture and profit-at-all-costs approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The WMWA has written to 13 super funds covering more than 6.5 million Australian members. The funds, each identified as having a Rio Tinto stake, are required to exercise their powers in the best interests of their members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A recent by report by Elizabeth Broderick found that of all Rio Tinto\u2019s global divisions, bullying and sexual harassment were highest in its iron ore division, in Western Australia\u2019s Pilbara. More than half of those iron ore employees reported experiencing bullying and one third of the women experienced sexual harassment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As key shareholders in Rio Tinto, each superannuation fund \u201chas a key role in guiding Rio Tinto\u2019s corporate behaviour and setting a high expectation for governance in the organisation,\u201d Australian Workers\u2019 Union National Secretary Dan Walton says in a joint letter to the chairs, CEOs and investment managers of each fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe encourage you to challenge Rio Tinto\u2019s leadership and ask what concrete steps they are taking to resolve these systemic cultural issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Broderick report backs up the findings of a worker survey conducted by the WMWA last year across Rio Tinto Pilbara iron ore mines, which found:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cfOne in five women said they had experienced physical acts of sexual assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cfOne in three women said they had received requests for sexual favours, and repeated invitations to engage in sexual relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cfMost workers (men and women) did not believe that the work culture protects workers from sexual harassment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mining and Energy Union President Tony Maher says Rio Tinto still refuses to engage or consult directly with its workers and representatives to discuss collaborative solutions to issues such as these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have sounded concerns for several years about Rio Tinto\u2019s failure to appropriately respond to bullying and harassment in the workplace,\u201d Mr Maher says in the letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are particular historical factors contributing to Rio Tinto\u2019s workplace culture that stem from their \u2018direct engagement\u2019 philosophy, which puts workers at the mercy of their immediate supervisor for their livelihoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt removed a collective voice for workers and discouraged difficult issues like bullying from being raised.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Western Mine Workers\u2019 Alliance is an agreement between the Australian Workers\u2019 Union and the Mining and Energy Union.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Western Mine Workers\u2019 Alliance is calling on Australia\u2019s largest superannuation funds to pressure Rio Tinto over the mining giant\u2019s appalling workplace culture and profit-at-all-costs approach. The WMWA has written to 13 super funds covering more than 6.5 million Australian members. The funds, each identified as having a Rio Tinto stake, are required to exercise … Continue reading “Mine unions want super funds to question Rio Tinto over bullying and harassment”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14857,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14856\/revisions\/14857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}