As an employer, owner and purchaser, our most important role related to human rights is to secure decent working conditions in our organization, in minority-owned companies and with our suppliers.
Avoid child labor and forced labor
It is essential for us to avoid the use of child labor and forced labor, both in Hydro's activities and in those of our suppliers and partners. We are concerned about fundamental labor rights, such as freedom of association, minimum wage requirements and the regulation of working hours. We do not tolerate discrimination on the basis of gender, race, national or ethnic origin, cultural background, social group, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, age or political opinion.
Cooperating with the unions
Almost all our production sites in Europe, Australia, Brazil and Argentina - representing 89 percent of our employees - are unionized. About 80 percent of our employees in Norway belong to unions, and a large proportion of employees in Germany and Brazil are also union members, the majority in Germany belonging to IG Metall and IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie. Contact between union representatives across borders is an important part of the integration process for our new activities in Brazil. We build on a strong relationship between union representatives and management that has been developed in Hydro over the decades.
Conflicts between Hydro and the employees resulted in only minor strikes during 2011. None of these exceeded a duration of one week.
In countries where the right to form trade unions is restricted, we try to find alternative forums to uphold the rights of employees to influence their work situation, like in Qatar and China. In March 2011, Hydro signed an international frame agreement with four unions, aiming to secure the development of good working relations in Hydro's worldwide operations. In January 2012, we signed a new corporate agreement with the main unions regarding the European Works Council.
Further improvements
In 2011, we engaged the Danish Institute of Human Rights to assist us in assessing areas of human rights risks to come up with an action plan. The risk analysis and action plan, which is expected to be completed early in 2012, are part of Hydro's revised CSR strategy. Human rights information has been communicated to the board of directors, the corporate management board, all business area management teams, and other relevant parties including union representatives.
It is necessary to employ security staff in some areas, including armed guards for the protection of personnel, property and business activities. No negative incidents in connection with our use of security staff were registered in 2011.
The rights of our neighbors
In 2011, we became operator of the Paragominas bauxite pipeline that crosses areas inhabited by a traditional Quilombola group in Jambuaçu Territory in Brazil. Hydro has established contact with Quilombola representatives and enhanced dedicated resources to improve and follow up the dialog. We have entered into an agreement to invest BRL 650,000 (about NOK 2.2 million) in a project - Casa Familiar Rural - aiming at stimulating income generation by enhancing education, acquiring land, etc.
Maintaining the rights of indigenous peoples is important to the part-owned operation Alouette in Canada. Local management is handling the dialog with the indigenous representatives, and we are working through the board of directors to follow this up.
The relocation of people is sometimes necessary in connection with our operations. No relocations took place in relation to Hydro's activities in 2011. Through the Vale transaction, Hydro's ownership share increased from 20 to 81 percent in a planned alumina refinery, Companhia de Alumino do Pará (CAP) in Brazil. Before entering into the project, we initiated an independent review of the resettlement process. The review concluded that the resettlement had been conducted in compliance with the Equator Principles and the International Finance Corporation Performance Standards. Further relocations will become necessary as the project moves forward.
There is currently one legal dispute between 5 of the 120 relocated families and CAP. Such families claim to have the right to remain on the land that is occupied by CAP. However, after a preliminary analysis, the Trial Court denied such request, which was confirmed by the Court of Appeals.
