In February 2007, during an otherwise triumphant eight-country tour of Africa, President Hu Jintao faced exactly one schedule change: on February 4 he canceled his planned inauguration of the new, Chinese-owned and operated, Chambishi copper smelter due to rumors of planned protests by disgruntled miners (the China Nonferrous Metal Mining Corporation maintains this site to explain the investment). Lord knows, they had reason to be disgruntled: wages at Chambishi are roughly 30% of those paid at other foreign-invested and owned mines in Zambia (roughly US$83/month), and safety conditions are notoriously bad (51 workers were killed in a blast at the mine in 2005).
But if anybody was under the impression that ruining Hu’s parade was going to improve conditions or wages at the Chinese mine (see: Olympics, Darfur), well, that person’s impression was quite wrong. In the year since Hu’s canceled visit, exactly nothing has changed. And so, last week, 500 Zambian workers employed at Chambishi went on strike for improved wages and work conditions. By the second day of the strike, riots had broken out and several Chinese managers had been taken hostage. Two days later – no surprise – Chambishi’s owners fired the 500 striking workers (a useful chronology with relevant links can be found here).
Chambishi’s sad history is filled with accusations that the Chinese are not respecting Zambian labor laws. I’ve never been to Zambia, so I can’t say for sure, but I’d venture to guess that such violations don’t occur without the tacit approval of the Zambian government. After all, the Chambishi mine is owned and operated by the China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group [CNMC] a state-owned corporation that also happens to be China’s largest overseas mine operator. And, with China’s State Council officially encouraging Chinese companies to seek resources abroad – with the financial “support” of China’s federal government – it can be safely assumed that CNMC operates with a free hand (and, some might argue, impunity) in Zambia’s largest China-oriented trade zone.
If that were the extent of CNMC’s ownership and partnership arrangements, I’d have nothing more to say here. But the fact is that CNMC, like increasing numbers of Chinese mining and metal companies, has developed a deep and abiding ownership relationship with a major Australian mining company. And that company – Ord River Resources – has somehow escaped being linked – by the mainstream press, at least – to the operational methods of its Chinese partner in Chambishi (Ord River’s website specifically mentions involvement in the project here).
For decades, labor and human rights activists have decried and even boycotted the operations of European and American companies that contract low-cost Asian labor in so-called “sweatshops.” Initially, the response of many of these developed world countries was something along the lines of: “Sorry, we don’t control the conditions or wages in contractor factories.” But as the pressure intensified – and “sweatshop” became a buzzword – it turned out that Nike and Walmart did, in fact, have the ability to influence factory conditions, and now they – and the biggest foreign outsourcers – require their contractors to meet certain labor and wage standards (of course, what a contractor says and does is not always the same).
Every few months, it seems, the media in the developed world run a story on the atrocious and dangerous conditions that Chinese miners face. And, in unison, readers in the developed world tut-tut and say “what a shame,” all the while comfortably aware that there’s not much influence that they can bring to bear on a Chinese mining industry that is largely state-owned. But shame is a powerful instrument when applied correctly to companies in developed countries, and there’s simply no reason why it can’t be focused on the increasing numbers of foreign partners to Chinese mining companies – both in China and abroad – in hopes of improving the lot of the miners who are – directly or indirectly – their employed charges.Which brings me back to Ord River. I have no doubt that the officers of Ord River will claim that they lack the ability to influence how CNMC operates in Chambishi – despite the fact that CNMC’s CEO and President, Tao Luo, serves as a non-exutive Vice-President and director of Ord River; and David Weili Tang, a CNMC vice-president, serves as an alternate director at Ord River. That’s two directors out of seven serving in a public Australian company that – in principle – must meet higher labor and safety standards. It is also – I note – an Australian company with access to rich non-ferrous metal reserves that the Chinese covet (and were the basis for the Chinese investment in Ord River in the first place). So, surely, Ord River is a in a position to publicly pressure its Chinese investors to stop treating its African employees like vassals – and more like the market-wage high-benefit Australian miners employed in Ord River’s Australian prospecting projects.
And, for that matter – surely there must an Australian newspaper willing to make this case to its readers?
For those interested, Ord River’s contact information can be found here.