PERTH — Construction, mining, maritime and metal workers rallied outside the Sheraton Hotel on March 23 while chief executive of mining giant Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Sam Walsh, hosted a business breakfast for Rio bosses.
The protest was in support of about 600 locked-out miners, members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), in Boron, California.
Maritime Union of Australia Western Australia branch secretary Chris Cain organised the rally of 300 people. The crowd chanted: "The workers united will never be defeated" in solidarity with the ILWU brothers and sisters.
"Rio want to casualise the joint", said Cain. "And get this. If something goes wrong with the machinery they want the workers to pay!"
Assistant state secretary of the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union, Joe McDonald, said: "When [Rio] were pulled into line for destroying the rivers in South America they laughed. Now they are bringing in strike breakers from Texas."
[Reprinted from mua.org.au]