‘Don’t let Rio Tinto tarnish the Olympic Games’ unions warn

‘Don’t let Rio Tinto tarnish the Olympic Games’ unions warn

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NEWS ADVISORY

WHEN: Thursday 19 April 2012, 10:00
WHERE: The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, SW1P

Union members and workers will be handing out medals to Rio Tinto shareholders’ saying ‘Don’t let Rio Tinto tarnish the Olympic Games’ at its AGM in London tomorrow (Thursday 19 April).

Workers Uniting, the world’s first global union, along with other unions are protesting over the four month-long lockout of 780 United Steelworkers (USW) members in Alma, Quebec, Canada. The dispute is over Rio Tinto’s plans to replace retiring employees with contract workers on half the wages with no benefits at its profitable smelter in Quebec, Canada. When the workers refused to accept, Rio Tinto locked them out.

The unions will bring to shareholders’ attention Rio Tinto’s unethical and illegal actions in Canada and the damage this is doing to the reputation of the London 2012 Olympics by tarnishing it with the company’s reprehensible labour practices. Rio Tinto, one of the sponsors of the 2012 London Olympics, is providing 99 per cent of the metal for the London Olympic medals.

Unite is supporting the USW, which is calling for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to drop the company as an official supplier of the 2012 London Games because the company’s treatment of its own workers does not live up to the Olympic spirit and disrespects the Olympic values of fair play.