Union fires biting salvo at Rio


AUSTRALIA'S most influential blue-collar union has savaged a ''bloodsucking'' miner Rio Tinto, warning it would be ''coming after'' it in a bid to fully unionise a key part of its business.  

Australian Workers' Union national secretary Paul Howes said ''monkeys could do a better job of running Rio Tinto'' as he accused it of trying to lock unions out of its sites.

''I've got a message for Rio Tinto: you don't own this government, you don't own this country any more,'' he said.


''You cannot hide behind the law. You cannot hide behind lawyers. You cannot hide behind your grubby, slimy mates in the Coalition.''

Mr Howes made the comments as he announced a bold strategy to try to fully unionise both the aluminium and glass industries, with Rio Tinto the target in aluminium.  

They are the latest in a two-decade ideological battle between Rio and the union movement. Rio has switched much of its workforce away from unions and on to individual contracts.

Resources industry figures dismissed the ''tired'' rhetoric of Mr Howes and said the union would be unable to back up its claims.

Mr Howes said the AWU, which had added about 30,000 members in recent years, was the fastest growing union in the country and now was the time not just to increase numbers, but the union's power.

While he said the overall aluminium industry was about 80 per cent unionised, it was believed AWU's coverage at Rio's extensive operations was lower.

A Rio Tinto spokeswoman said it recognised the right of workers to choose to join a union. ''We do not monitor the level of union membership in our businesses,'' she said. ''Employment arrangements across the business include a mixture of collective employment agreements and individual agreements.''

In a fiery address to the AWU's national conference, Mr Howes attacked Rio's chief executive, Tom Albanese, who, he said, was ''sucking out of the blood, sweat and tears of the blue-collar workers across this country''. He said Rio could not afford a mining tax but it was the workers who made the wealth for ''those shiny arses sitting in the boardroom in London to enjoy''.  

Mr Howes denied he was using ''class war'' rhetoric.

''I don't believe in class war, but I do believe Rio Tinto has been waging a class war for a long time,'' he said.

Rio Tinto, along with other miners, successfully de-unionised from the 1990s in a bid to reduce union influence.

Mr Howes said companies with little union presence were able to operate much cheaper and undercut other companies.  

He indicated the AWU would seek to bolster union presence at BHP Billiton's giant Olympic Dam mine in South Australia.

Australian Mines and Metals Association chief executive Steve Knott said the mining industry had successfully negotiated directly with staff in the past 20 years by treating them well, offering good pay and safety conditions.

He said big blue-collar unions had been saying for years they would re-unionise the mining sector.

''It's the same old tired rhetoric that will deliver the same results as the last 20 years,'' he said. ''What's he going to do differently?'' Mr Knott said employees had made the decision and ''they don't need the insurance of trade unions''.

Mr Knott said the Fair Work laws offered unions ''new tools'' to get on to sites but said in hard-rock mining - which includes iron ore, aluminium and copper - union membership had remained stuck at about 10 per cent since the laws took effect. Union numbers were much higher in coal.

Mr Howes said Rio's workforce had a right to union representation. ''We are going to take Rio Tinto on and make sure they pay a liveable wage,'' he said. ''For too long we've been scared, for too long we've been intimidated, but the time has ended.''  

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lol lol 

So this Mr Howes, whom imcrook now has at the top of his idol list, has shown his true colours.
I wonder will he still be invited, in his $2000 suits, onto the TV talk shows.
I guess he'll still be welcome at the ABC.