Mandela to address Rio Tinto unions

South African President Nelson Mandela is to meet with trade union leaders whose members are employed by Rio Tinto, the world's biggest minerals company and renowned for its anti-union stand. Rio Tinto also has a poor social and environmental record.

The two-day meeting in Johannesburg from February 7, organised by the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), is aimed at establishing a global network of unions.

Some 40 representatives of unions from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Namibia, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Sweden, South Africa, UK, USA and Zimbabwe will attend the talks. All represent workers in major Rio Tinto operations. Former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke will also be taking part.

Hosting the event is South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), whose president, James Motlatsi, will be among the principal speakers. Motlatsi is a vice-president of the ICEM.

John Maitland, ICEM vice-president and national president of the Australian miners' union, the CFMEU, will give a major presentation on the aims of the new Rio Tinto union network.

British solicitor Richard Meeran, acting on behalf of Scottish engineer Edward Connelly, who is pursuing Rio Tinto through the British courts, will also speak. Connelly contracted cancer of the larynx after working at Rio Tinto's Rossing uranium mine in Namibia.

Messages of support for the ICEM Rio Tinto campaign can be faxed to the NUM on 27 11 836 6051.

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