Anglo American does not tolerate any form of unfair discrimination, inhumane treatment, forced labour, child labour, harassment or intimidation in the workplace. We are committed to the labour rights principles of the Global Compact, including the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining, the eradication of child and forced labour and non-discrimination. We expect our supply chain to strive to adhere to all of our employment and labour-rights principles.
Principle 3: Business should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.
Anglo American’s Business Principles recognise the right of our employees to freedom of association and to collective bargaining – a commitment that is supported in our Group Human Resources Policy, the Anglo American Social Way and the Anglo American Supplier Sustainable Development Code. Almost 70% of Anglo American’s permanent employees are represented by work council, trade unions or other similar bodies and are covered by collective bargaining agreements. In South Africa we collaborate closely with organised labour and the government’s Department of Mineral Resources to improve the safety performance not just of our own operations but of the mining industry as a whole, see the Sustainable Development Report 2011, page 26.
Principles 4 and 5: Business should eliminate all forms of forced and compulsory labour and ensure effective abolition of child labour.
We prohibit child labour in our operations and continued to report no cases of forced labour or child labour at Anglo American during 2011. Our Business Principles also state that we will develop a responsible approach to ending child labour that ensures the welfare of the children, should we encounter cases in our supply chain. The Anglo Supply Chain Sustainable Development Code prohibits the use of exploitative child labour and states that the Company will not tolerate forced, bonded or involuntary prison labour. In 2011, Anglo American was awarded top marks in an evaluation of how the world’s largest companies deal with child labour risks. The evaluation – conducted by NBIM, the manager of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund – awarded Anglo American ten out of ten for the managing and reporting of risks of child labour use and children’s rights violations in our operations and supply chain. We were one of only 9 companies out of 527 assessed to score top marks. Nearly half of the companies in the survey scored zero.
Principle 6: Eliminate discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
Anglo American’s commitment to eliminate discrimination is included in our Business Principles, and supported by the Anglo American Social Way and Group Human Resources policy, which states that Anglo American and its subsidiaries will promote workplace equality and will seek to eliminate all forms of unfair or arbitrary discrimination. The Anglo American Supplier Sustainable Development Code also requires that suppliers eliminate all forms of unfair discrimination and encourage diversity in their workforce.
It is our policy to provide equitable access to employment opportunities and to employ the best person for any role. We will put in place meaningful support structures based on individual needs for those who may have been previously disadvantaged, to enable every employee to realise their full potential. Diversity is of particular importance in South Africa, which hosts the majority of Anglo American employees, and we continued to make good progress in achieving transformation in our workplace demographics. In 2011 in South Africa, 51% of our managers were ‘historically disadvantaged’. We have made arrangements for women to overcome the challenges of working in a male-dominated environment by developing new policies and guidelines but also training and appropriate facilities for them in the workplace, including underground.
In early 2012, we became signatories to the UN Women Women’s Empowerment Principles to build on the work that we already do to improve gender equity. Women currently make up 15% of our total global workforce, up from 10.6% in 2007 and occupy 22% of management positions, up from 15.3% in 2007, see the Sustainable Development Report 2011, page 20. All of our Business Units and Group Functions have set stretch diversity targets to achieve by 2012 and 2014 respectively. Through training and awareness programmes such as Visible Felt Leadership, launched this year, we continue working to achieve our goal of zero harm, ensuring the safety and well-being of all women and men workers, see The A Magazine, page 10. We promote professional development and education by supporting professional networks such as Women in Mining in London, Johannesburg and Queensland, and educational programmes such as Techno-girl, which provides girls aged 15 to 18 in South Africa with practical engineering experience. A range of health initiatives in both Brazil and South Africa focus on helping our communities tackle HIV/AIDS, a disease to which women are especially vulnerable.