Thousands of workers marched through the streets of Alma in Lac Saint-Jean, Canada to demand an end to a lock out by Rio Tinto and to fight for the preservation of jobs at the Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA) smelter. Three months and one day after the multinational corporation’s reprehensible lock out of its workers, largely subsidized by public funds, citizens from the region, families, workers and unionists from all over the world have their eyes set on Rio Tinto – the campaign will be coming to the UK soon! Keep an eye on this website for more details.
International support came from the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), Unite and from unions in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, France, the Netherlands, the United States and Mexico.
The 780 workers at Rio Tinto’s smelter in Alma were thrown onto the street during the night of December 30th, last year 24 hours before the company had acquired the legal right to lock out its workers.
The conflict centres on the company plan to replace regular workers with subcontractors paid at half the wage rate.
