On January 31, 2010
Rio Tinto locked
out 550 union miners from its Boron, California
Borax Mine . When I was in Boron in January 2009 the town was barely alive; the heavy duty Rio Tinto corporate action will likely kill the town.
Alcoa, with Kucinich’s support, obtained the public money and hired
Germany’s Siempelkamp Group to produce new ductile iron Mesta press hammer and anvil castings.
Question: why is it that Rio Tinto decided to lock out and Alcoa decided to lobby? Does it have to do with differences in how labor is taxed in Cuyahoga vs Boron?
Links:
[1] http://www.riotinto.com/whatweproduce/northamerica.asp
[2] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/01/workers-locked-out-at-borax-mines-in-boron-in-growing-labor-dispute.html
[3] http://www.borax.com/
[4] http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2009/04/alcoa_press.html
[5] http://www.forgemag.com/Articles/Industry_News/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000708395
[6] http://smtp.realneo.us/system/files/Boron-P1280723.jpg