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Cape Town - National Union of Mineworkers general secretary Frans Baleni says about 200 of the union's members have marched to the Mining Indaba held in the Mother City to protest against the ill-treatment of Rio Tinto miners in other countries.
"We marched in solidarity with workers operating in some Rio Tinto mines, especially in Madagascar, Indonesia, Australia, Mongolia and India, where conditions are severe."
Empathise
The march was organised with the IndustriALL Global Union, which said it represented 50 million workers in the mining, energy and manufacturing sectors in 142 countries.
Baleni said they tried to hand over a memorandum of demands to Rio Tinto representatives at the indaba but were told to e-mail it to their London office.
"[We still believe] the march was very successful. It's not about numbers. It's about the fact that workers can empathise at such a distance," he said.
"We are sending a message to Rio Tinto that they are not dealing with workers just where they are, but a global federation of 50 million people."
Retrenchments
IndustriALL claimed in its memorandum of demands to Rio Tinto CEO Sam Walsh that his company was one of the most aggressive anti-union companies in the sector. It called on the company to stop interfering in collective bargaining. It wanted the company to commit to engaging with workers and their trade unions, particularly when downscaling operations, to seek alternatives to retrenchments.
Rio Tinto has two operations in South Africa -- the copper mine, smelter and refinery Palabora Mining Company, and Richards Bay Minerals, which mines and processes titanium minerals.
