‘Like slave and master’: DRC miners toil for 30p an hour to fuel electric cars

Tenke
Fungurume Mine / CMOC

CMOC is committed to
“establishing fair employment practices and treating all
individuals with dignity and respect, with zero tolerance to all forms of
unlawful discrimination and harassment”. The Employment Policy
issued by the Company has clear
rules regarding this. We comply with the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and
Rights at Work and the eight fundamental Conventions of the
International Labour Organization, and
the laws and regulations in countries where we operate. We develop appropriate
regulations and preventative measures to ensure the elimination of
all forms of child labour, forced
labour, and violations of human rights or international humanitarian
law during the hiring process,
while employed, and at the end of employment. We also deliver the
same to oursuppliers and
monitor their compliance periodically.

We are devoted to
providing safe, healthy, and decent work environment to all employees
and attach great
importance to protecting the rights of employees. We value and
encourage localization as
shown by the 88% Congolese (including contractors) in our total work
force as of the second quarter
of 2021.

In terms of labor
relations, we are committed to observing ILO conventions and local
labor policies and laws
based on a fair employment framework. All employees are entitled with
rights of freedom of
association and collective bargaining. All DRC national employees are
members of unions. The
Collective Bargaining Agreement we signed with unions covers all
Congolese employees, the
content of which explicitly clarified working hours, salaries, and
benefits that are in line with market
standards and requirement by laws.

On HSE perspective,
TFM receives annual OHSAS 18001 independent audit to ensure safety performance.
Everyone in and out of the mine site, including our own employees and contractors’
employees, need to attend induction trainings to get onboard.
Induction trainings, including specific
modules on safety, human rights, and grievance hotline, are intended
to ensure that all employees
and contractors are equipped with necessary knowledge and skills and understand and
comply with the Zero Tolerance Rules of TFM. In this regard, we treat
our employees and
contractors equally, registering contractor performance as well in
our safety records. The
contracts signed with suppliers/contractors also encompass Supplier
Code of Conducts and other
ESG terms including on HSE, human rights, and community.

MOC values
communications with employees. The grievance systems of our global
business units are accessible
to all employees and contractors and welcome involvement and feedback from all employees.
TFM has a dedicated grievance system to record and resolve
stakeholders’ concerns and
compliance issues, including employees’ concerns regarding work
conditions, and will make
verifications on issues filed.

Due to absence of
details related to what you mentioned in your email, I’m not able
to verify, but to do
so, I’m open to any further information that you may provide. I
would like to stress that CMOC
manages its labor relations in line with established rules and
international standards. Let me
share with you a most recent demonstration of our practice: in the
MSCI ESG rating report
released in August 2021, CMOC is upgraded from BBB to A, a rating
that is among top tier of global
mining companies. This manifests that we have maintained high
international standards in areas
including protection of labor rights and interests, safety, health,
environmental protection, and
corporate governance.

Please note one
important fact: since CMOC took over, TFM has acted in strict
compliance with laws and regulations
and made significant contribution to fiscal revenue of the DRC and development of local
communities. From start of production to end of June 2021, TFM had contributed a total
of about USD3.48 billion to fiscal revenue of the DRC. Taxes paid and investment made in
the public sector by TFM is over 10% of total fiscal revenue of the
DRC, providing 10,462
local jobs and benefitting 21,150 local employees and their family
members with healthcare
services. TFM makes substantial investment in infrastructure,
livelihood, and economic development
of local communities every year since its start of production,
investing over USD300 million
in supporting utility projects and building public facilities
including roadways, schools, hospitals, and training centers. During
the same time, towns of Tenke and Fungurume where TFM is located
witnessed a growth of population from 30,000 to over 400,000 and had
developed into a medium-sized cities of prosperity and vitality.
Since acquisition completion in 2016, fiscal contribution to the DRC
government by TFM averaged USD400 million every year, way higher than
the USD130 million contribution when Freeport-McMoRan was shareholder
of the mine.

Glencore / KCC

Thank you for providing Glencore with the opportunity to respond to
allegations on working conditions at the Kamoto Copper Company (KCC)
in the Democratic Republic of Congo (the DRC). Both Glencore and KCC
take these allegations very seriously.

Glencore’s
Code
of Conduct
reflects our Purpose and Values and sets out the key principles and
expectations for how our employees must behave in their day-to-day
activities. At Glencore, we all commit to the Code – regardless of
where we are or what we do. All of us are accountable for living up
to Glencore’s Values, incorporating the Code into our lives and
encouraging our colleagues to do the same.

KCC uses contractors
for specialist activities and for temporary work – it does not use
contractors for its core activities, which its direct employees carry
out. Its terms and conditions with its contractor companies align
with DRC’s labour legislation and set out clear expectations for
the treatment of workers. KCC has a dedicated enterprise development
program that is dedicated to contracting local Congolese businesses
and to support them in developing into a sustainable operation.

KCC monitors
compliance with the terms and conditions of its contracts and, when
made aware of concerns, its management raises these concerns with its
contractor companies’ management teams. In these cases, KCC works
with the contractor company to address concerns; however, in the
event that progress is insufficient, KCC will review and, if
appropriate, terminate the contract.

As an example, in
2021, KCC became aware that employees of a global contractor company,
whose contract ceased due to the reduction of project activities
during the Covid-19 pandemic, did not receive their wages to the end
of their employment term. In this instance, KCC engaged with the
contractor company, voiced its concerns and the employees received
the correct payment. Similarly, this month, contractors demonstrated
at KCC on discrepancies in wages paid for similar jobs. In this
instance, KCC spoke with the contractor company to understand better
the issues and to encourage engagement between the management team
and its workers. The management team subsequently addressed the
discrepancies.

KCC provides food
and water to all its direct employees and to certain contractors,
depending on the agreement with the specific contractor company. KCC
completes in-field verification reviews to ensure adequate supply and
quantities when the contractor is responsible for issuing water to
their workforce. In all cases, KCC will provide water to any employee
or contractor on an as required basis.

KCC
investigates the concerns that it receives. We encourage you to
provide further details on the allegations you have received
– this
will support our internal investigation processes and enable, if
needed, the implementation of correction measures.

Background:

Supporting
local employment and procurement

Our
Social
Performance Policy
states our commitment to support economic development through
providing local employment, procurement and contracting opportunities
to local enterprises.

Glencore
sets out its approach to responsible sourcing and supply in our
annual Sustainability Report, in ourSupplier
Standardsand
on our website.
Glencore’s Supplier Standards set out our expectations for ethical
business practices, safety, health, human rights and environmental
stewardship for all of our suppliers. Our Supplier Standards apply to
any individual, organisation or company that provides, sells or
leases materials directly to Glencore companies, including goods and
services. These also apply to KCC’s suppliers. The Supplier
Standards also form the base of our risk-based supply chain due
diligence programme, which aligns with the Organization of Economic
Cooperation and Development’s Due Diligence Guidance for
Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and
High-Risk Areas

KCC’s
Enterprise Development Process works across its procurement programme
to support, encourage and engage Congolese-owned businesses,
including labour. KCC’s supplier agreements and contracts include
standard terms and conditions on the requirement for robust health
and safety management programmes, upholding respect for human rights,
the prevention of child labour, good working conditions and fair
salaries.

In
addition, in 2020, KCC successfully participated in the Responsible
Minerals Initiative’s (RMI) pilot audit programme for its
Responsible Minerals Assurance Process. Supplier due diligence was a
core part of this third-party assessment. The report on this
assessment is available on our website.
It should also be noted that KCC is the only mining operation in
Africa to receive RMI certification for the 2020-21 period.

Fair
pay and strong union representation

Glencore’s
Equality
of Opportunity Policy
requires our assets to provide fair and equitable conditions of
employment to their employees, in line with local requirements. We
believe in the principle of equal pay for work of equal value and
contribution.

We
provide all employees with equal access to pay calculations and
transparency of pay in line with their agreed and lawful terms and
conditions of employment for work performed in line with global
standards and local requirements. We provide employees with access to
absence, redundancy, and retirement provision in accordance with
local standards.

KCC
has established salary banding that is based on the skills required
for the work performed. All of KCC’s employees are paid above the
DRC’s minimum wage and receive additional benefits and allowances,
including but not limited to medical support, meals, school fees,
housing allowance, family allowance, leave absence payment (in
addition to labour law leave requirement).

KCC’s
standard terms of engagement for its contractors stipulates
conditions in line with DRC legislation and fair remuneration.

All
of our assets, including KCC, recognise and uphold the rights of
their workforces to freedom of association and collective
representation. “Respect workforce rights to lawful freedom of
association and collective bargaining” is in KCC’s contract terms
and conditions with its service providers. At KCC, 96% of its
employees belong to a union and the KCC team meets regularly with
union representatives.

Huayou
Cobalt / CDM

CDM
strictly abides by DRC laws and regulations, we respect human rights
and fulfil best labor practice.

1.
All the workers of our company are directly recruited through formal
recruitment channels. We have never recruited workers through
sub-contractors or third parties.

2.
The company’s way to calculate the payroll fully conforms to the
requirements of local laws, and the wages of general employees are
much higher than the local minimum wage standard.

3.
The company signs formal employment contracts with employees in
accordance with local labour laws.

4.
At the start of Covid outbreak, the DRC government did not put
forward a clear policy and guidance on Covid pandemic prevention and
control, in order to protect the employees’ life and health, the
company immediately established Employee Protection Proposal
referring to the effective prevention measures of PRC and other
mining enterprises’ Covid pandemic prevention practices, and
combining local actual situation of DRC, we adopted a policy of
healthy and safe operation, implementing disinfection of the facility
to ensure that workers work in a safe and virus-free environment.
Later, our company made relevant adjustments accordingly after the
DRC government put forward relevant Covid pandemic prevention
policies.

5.
Since the establishment of our factory, we have made a lot of
contributions to the surrounding communities. Every year, we spend a
lot of money on the community. At the same time, we organized
villagers to carry out agricultural planting training, agricultural
education and farming, and cooperated with Non-Governmental
organizations to conduct free consultations for villagers. During the
Covid pandemic, we also made pandemic prevention speeches to
villagers, and donated pandemic prevention materials, masks, alcohol
and gloves to villagers for many times.

As for the
allegations mentioned in the e-mail, much of the information received
by the Guardian is not in accordance with the actual situation, which
will have a negative impact on our company. We hope the Guardian can
collect information in a more precise, careful, discerning and
responsible manner, and then provide a convincing report.

Renault

Following
you request, please find below Renault’s responses regarding the
questions you have raised.

Testimonies
presented in the upcoming article by the Guardian have retained
Renault Group’s full attention. Renault Group firmly condemns the
practices described in the upcoming article.
Such
testimonies confirm the urgent need to mobilize industrial sectors
dependent on minerals to ensure a responsible purchasing supply
chain.
Renault
Group works with its suppliers to ensure their respect in the
application of human and labour rights. For example, on the electric
battery sector, Renault mandated in 2019 a specialist audit firm to
fulfill a comprehensive cobalt supply chain mapping with its sole
EV-battery supplier, LG Chem (more information on Renault Group’s
website) and to conduct audits at each level of the supply chain.
Renault
Group operates in accordance with applicable laws and is strongly
committed to respecting human and labour rights. These elements are
reflected in the responsible purchasing policy
(https://www.renaultgroup.com/en/our-commitments/for-a-shared-ethics/sustainable-purchasing/
promoted
within our Group and with our suppliers as part of the commitments
requested of them.
In
the last 12 months, Renault Group has reinforced his commitment to
sustainable sourcing by contracting with Vulcan for Lithium for
example. We assure you of our will to continue and intensify the
actions already implemented by our teams in these different areas.

Volvo

The
allegations put forward by the Guardian are serious. We are not aware
of these issues taking place in our supply chain. Volvo Cars places
strict sustainability requirements on our business partners, and has
measures in place to both secure responsibly sourced cobalt for our
batteries and improve the situation on the ground for mine workers in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

These
are serious allegations, many of which would also violate our Code of
Conduct for Business Partners. We are currently considering the
opening of a Grievance case based on these information.

We
are requesting from our direct suppliers and their supply chains to
disclose the upstream supply chain and to rule out the possibility of
any human rights violations as per the OECD guideline’s procedure.

Obligatory
sustainability rating for all direct suppliers ensure that human
rights, environmental and corruption risks can be promptly identified
and ruled out. The basis for that are documents that every supplier
must submit to us and on-site checks, if needed.

On
the issue of responsible cobalt supply chain for our batteries we use
the following approach:

Cooperation
with direct suppliers to ascertain the origin of cobalt in the
supply chain.
Engagement
of independent auditing service providers who examine all the
information furnished by the direct suppliers – including on site.
Use
of the results of audits to instigate improvements and ensure
responsible sourcing practices across the supply chain.

Volkswagen
itself does not procure cobalt directly. Cobalt itself is purchased
by our suppliers for their business processes and products in a
supply chain that has up to 9 levels and in countries such as the DR
Congo. Parts of the Cobalt in VW Groups battery supply chains also
originates in the DR Congo.

We
are aware of the mining conditions in Congolese small-scale mining
and reject child labor or inadequate environmental or social welfare
standards in mining. We understand that small-scale mining in the DR
Congo represents a livelihood for many people. Without minimum
standards we cannot – not least for legal reasons – accept any
material from small-scale mines.

The
Volkswagen Group joined the “Cobalt for Development” project in
September 2020. Together with other partners from industry, we are
working to improve the working and living conditions of the local
population in the DR Congo.

Volkswagen
engages in improving working conditions in artisanal cobalt mines in
the Democratic Republic of Congo (volkswagenag.com)

In
regard to industrial mining production from the DRC we also look for
opportunities to increase the sustainability performance of the mines
in the far end of our supply chains. This is why we are addressing
this topic in our contractual requirements with our battery
suppliers, referencing international best practices and this is why
we are currently piloting a sustainability audit at one industrial
mine site in the DRC. Through this pilot project we want to better
understand the sustainability performance of the mines in high-risk
countries and we intend to trigger positive change on the ground
through corrective-action-plans for the assessed mine site.

We
work closely with our direct suppliers to identify the exact origin
of cobalt in the supply chain. That is done using forensic
audits, in which we work with an external service provider to obtain
transparency right down to the source of the raw material. For
example, suppliers and subcontractors in our cobalt supply chain are
audited so as to ensure responsible practices throughout the supply
chain. In the event of irregularities – violation of our standards
(defined in the “Code of Conduct for Business Partners”) – we
take appropriate, quick and resolute action to ensure sustainability
in our supply chain.

We
report transparently and regularly on our activities in the field of
responsible procurement of battery raw materials such as cobalt in
the annual

Volkswagen_Group_Responsible_Raw_Materials_Report_2020.pdf
(volkswagenag.com) which
was published in 2021 for the first time.

Mercedes-Benz
/ Daimler

We
take such indications very seriously and follow them up.
We
are immediately contacting our suppliers to clarify these
indications.
The
respect for, and protection of, human rights are of fundamental
importance to Daimler.
With
our Principles
of Social Responsibility and Human Rights,
we commit to upholding and respecting human rights as laid out in
the International Bill of Human Rights, the International Labor
Organization’s Declaration on the Fundamental Principles and
Rights at Work and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human
Rights of the United Nations.
Our
aim is to ensure that human rights are respected in all our Group
companies, by our partners and by our suppliers.
As
stated in our Business
Partner Standards,
we expect compliance with these principles also from our business
partners, including labour standards such as fairness in pay,
working hours and social benefits as well as free choice of
employment. This applies also to suppliers, their employees and
their subcontractors.
As
we have more than 60,000 direct suppliers and numerous
subcontractors, we have implemented several standards and measures
to sustain our ethical standards in our supply chains.
Our
goal is to make supply chains more transparent. This allows us to
better identify human rights risks and to counteract them in
cooperation with our suppliers.
With
a supply contract with Mercedes-Benz, suppliers agree to create
transparency in their supply chains in order to identify risk
hotspots and potential human rights risks and to counteract them by
taking appropriate action in accordance with the OECD guiding
principles.
In
order to improve the situation of local communities and strengthen
their rights, we work together with suppliers and sub-suppliers and
regularly consult with relevant external stakeholders, especially
NGOs. In accordance with their feedback, we follow the principle of
using leverage before withdrawing. That means, we deliberately do
not exclude countries of origin viewed as high-risk as sources of
supply in general but aim to improve the situation on site.
We
are having cobalt supply chains of battery cell suppliers audited by
a third party. The external auditing firm RCS Global is auditing all
stages of the supply chain in accordance with OECD Guiding
principles and is also conducting rights holder interviews. The
audits cover aspects such as child labour, modern slavery,
occupational health and safety and health measures, material control
as well as existing due diligence systems. Where necessary,
corrective measures were agreed with suppliers by means of
individual “Corrective Action Plans”. Depending on the
respective measure, suppliers are given different deadlines for
implementation. We are constantly monitoring the implementation of
the measures. The program includes also supplier trainings and
re-audits in order to increase their capacity on the one hand, and
monitor improvement of supplier performance over time on the other
hand.
The
aim of this corrective action and regular monitoring is to ensure
that a continuous improvement process takes place in the supply
chain. In individual cases – for example in the event of
non-compliance with the Corrective Action Plans or in case of a
critical breach – the business relationship with the respective
facility may also be terminated.
In
one example, a health and safety risk was identified at one audited
mine. To resolve the problem, the company at the next higher stage
of the supply chain was contacted in order to identify possible
solutions, and both companies were offered training courses and to
respond to requests to monitor the implementation of the corrective
measures. Due to the lack of response, the supply relationship with
the mine concerned has been suspended and will only be resumed once
the situation improves. Mercedes-Benz remains in contact with the
sub-supplier.
We
are aware, that audits can only show a momentary insight and have to
be accompanied by other measures.
In
order to ensure the responsible and sustainable extraction of cobalt
in the long term, we will instruct our suppliers to only source
cobalt from IRMA audited mining sites in the future. To this end, we
make the IRMA standard for responsible mining a key criterion for
supplier decisions and contracts in raw material supply chains. In
doing so, in addition to the risk of child labor, environmental
risks in the mining of raw materials can be minimized. Further
details can be found here.
Daimler
has been investing in resource-efficient technologies and
manufacturing processes for batteries for years. They will lead to a
further increase in energy density, so that more energy can be
stored at the same volume. Finally, the material composition of
lithium-ion battery cells will change. The current mixture of
nickel, manganese and cobalt could soon be outdated, as cobalt is to
be largely replaced by nickel in the long-term. In the battery of
the EQS, the cobalt content is already reduced to around ten
percent. In the future, we want to use post-lithium-ion technologies
with new material compositions to completely dispense with materials
such as cobalt.