UNDERMINING WORKERS RIGHTS: LABOR RIGHTS ABUSES IN NICKEL SUPPLY CHAINS

In this report Amnesty International raises serious concerns about rights at work for workers in the nickel mining sector on Dinagat Island in the Philippines. This report outlines numerous examples of workers being employed without contracts, the delayed payment of wages and the non-payment of compulsory employee benefits such as health insurance. While Amnesty International is particularly concerned about the practices of the labour-hire companies through which mining company workforces are employed, there are also clear implications for the mining companies themselves, which are linked to any abuse of workers’ rights through their business relationships with labour-hire companies. The situation for workers is further compounded by the failure of the Philippines state to adequately protect their rights due to poor enforcement of labour laws, lack of sufficient monitoring of mining and labour-hire companies and failure to ensure that workers’ access to effective remedy is easy and without barriers.