Rio Tinto investigation reveals rape, bullying and racism is rife in its workforce – but WA inquiry suggests it’s far from alone
to mine lithium after a community outcry that saw thousands march in the streets, and ongoing controversy over its Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia, the cost of which has blown out by billions of dollars after Rio struck a new deal with the government a week ago that it hopes will end a long-running dispute over the country’s share of potential profits from the vast copper deposit.
She said the industry was identified as “an industry that required urgent collective action” in the Australian Human Rights Commission’s 2020 Respect@Work report. “We aspire to be a business where everyone is safe, respectful and included, and clearly the report highlights that bullying, sexual harassment, racism, other forms of disrespect, are … right across Rio’s operations around the world.”
“We do not tolerate any form of racism, discrimination, harassment or bullying, and we are absolutely committed to eliminating it from our workplaces. We are making progress but we know we have more to do.” A separate survey of FIFO workers in WA, conducted by union group the Western Mine Workers Alliance and submitted to the parliamentary inquiry, found 22% of women had been offered career advancement or other work benefits in return for sex and 22.9% had been sexually assaulted at work.
All the big miners have systems in place that are supposed to allow employees to make complaints about violence, sexual harassment and bullying and have them resolved in a confidential way. “Often complaints get handed back to the same leadership team in the same department and they investigate their own leadership personnel.”
“Employees believe that there is little accountability, particularly for senior leaders and so called ‘high performers’ who are perceived to avoid significant consequences for harmful behaviour.”
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