Prasad Naik
BUS 510-2
Background
Rio Tinto is a British-Australian mining company founded in 1873 with its Headquarters in London, England. It is a global company, which operates worldwide with a focus in Australia and Canada. Rio Tinto is considered to be the oldest and largest mining company in the world with over 68,000 employees. During its operation carried out over the years, Rio Tinto has acquired and merged a number of companies. In 2011, Rio Tinto was selected as the official gold and metals Provider Company for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.
Dark Past
Notwithstanding the fact that Rio Tinto is a major and profitable company, it has some dark past about human rights and environmental violation. Issues ranging from carrying out illegal mining operation, employing “slave labor” and forcing them to work under brutal and unsafe conditions in 1980s,being sued by workers for health safety issues poor working conditions of workers and harming one of the richest areas of marine biodiversity on earth by dumping toxic cyanide from its Lihir gold mine operation. Due to this in 1981, Rio Tinto’s unhappy shareholder launched negative campaign called “People against Rio Tinto”. According to them Rio Tinto was involved in unethical practices like political bribes, environmental issues and poor treatment of indigenous peoples.
Rio Tinto and Stake holders
Over the period of time Rio Tinto has been tainted with scandals. To gain the confidence of its stakeholders Rio Tinto should develop a communications strategy with them. Rio Tinto’s major stakeholders are its mineworkers, shareholders and investors, communities, civil society groups such as NGO and governments of states that Rio Tinto operates. Each of these stakeholders has their own concerns and expectations. Rio Tinto mineworkers are concerned about poor and hazardous working conditions and exploitation of their human rights. A community where Rio Tinto operates is concerned