Rio, BHP Iron Ore JV Puts Hundreds Of Jobs At Risk - Union
June 05 2009 - 2:05AM
Dow Jones News
A planned iron ore joint venture between Rio Tinto Ltd. (RTP)
and BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU) in the Pilbara region of Western
Australia state will result in the loss of hundreds of jobs, a
trade union said Friday.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union's Western Australian
State Secretary Steve McCartney said workers should be worried by
the miner's plans to extract US$10 billion in cost savings from the
deal.
"This can only mean that hundreds, maybe thousands, more local
jobs will go when this merger happens," he said.
"They are talking about using the same rail lines and joining
together adjacent mines, which will no doubt lead to a mass clear
out of train drivers, miners and other specialized trades people at
the various BHP and Rio Tinto iron ore facilities in the
Pilbara."
-By Alex Wilson, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9292-2094;
alex.wilson@dowjones.com