Thursday, June 16, 2011

BHP: Corporate culture exposed

Workers have accused BHP Billiton of breaches of the privacy act after the mining giant sent texts to wives and partners of workers ahead of strike ballots at Queensland coalmines this week.

The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union says the only way the mining giant could have got the mobile numbers for the texts, sent two weeks ago, was from the workers' emergency contact details.

The row comes as 4000 workers at the BHP-Mitsubishi Alliance coking coal plants in Queensland, about two-thirds of the workforce, prepare to vote for the right to take industrial action.

The accusation by the union follows claims by the Australian Workers Union in February that Rio Tinto was intimidating workers at the Bell Bay aluminium smelter in Launceston.

CFMEU Queensland district vice-president Steve Pierce said the BHP text had told the workers' partners that it was not compulsory for employees to vote in the ballot.

BMA, which is operated by BHP, is the world's biggest exporter of coking coal, which is used in steelmaking.

A union bargaining group made up of the CFMEU, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and the Electrical Trades Union said it appeared the company had breached the privacy act by using the workers' emergency contact details for a purpose other than for which they were obtained.

The unions said last week they wanted an apology within 30 days or they would complain to the Privacy Commissioner.

The texts are understood to have been sent to all workers and some partners.

The big mining company has since sent out an apology to all employees, saying that sending the texts was an error.

No comments: