CYCLONE NORA Rio denies a risk to staff
RIO Tinto has defended a decision not to evacuate nearly 800 mine workers from Weipa before Cyclone Nora made landfall.
The Electrical Trades Union has taken the mining giant and Bechtel to task for failing to evacuate up to 800 workers from their Amrun project near Weipa, while the severe storm made its approach to the western Cape.
Union state organiser Robert Hill said the companies had failed members in the lead-up to the storm, by flying workers in as late as Thursday when they knew Nora was brewing.
He also claimed the companies were proposing to stand workers down with no pay.
“This is disgraceful behaviour on behalf of these companies and it shows their absolute lack of respect for these workers and their families,” he said.
“They will be held accountable for this appalling display.”
The union’s state secretary Peter Ong claimed the failure to evacuate the mine site when Cyclone George crossed WA’s Pilbara coastline in March 2007 had led to the deaths of two workers.
“Here we have Bechtel and Rio Tinto doing similar things,” he said.
He said the proposal to stand workers down without pay was a final insult.
“They take them away from their families, fly them into the eye of a storm, fail to keep them safe, and now they want to stand them down without pay – it’s an example of corporate bastardry that needs to be called out and we will continue to call it out,” he said.
A Rio Tinto spokeswoman said the claim that workers would be stood down without pay was untrue. She said the Amrun site was not evacuated, as it was designed to withstand a category five cyclone.
“Rio Tinto has well established practices to manage cyclone risk across Australia, whereby the safety of our people is paramount,” she said.
“We consistently monitor weather conditions to ensure safety is not compromised.”