Mine workers across the world took on transnational Rio Tinto in a “co-ordinated day of defiance” yesterday.

Workers from Rio Tinto sites in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America demanded safer workplaces, secure jobs and respect for workers’ rights in a campaign organised by union federation IndustriAll, following a spate of deaths at a site in Indonesia.

Industriall accused the £60 billion company of increasingly turning to casual labour — in the case of Hail Creek mine in Australia, Rio Tinto sacked full-time workers on mass but kept on contract staff.

Five miners were killed in two separate incidents in Grasberg copper mine in Indonesia last month where Rio Tinto has a significant stake in production. Thirty-five people died at the mine last year.

Industriall assistant general secretary Kemal Oezkan said: “For far too long, Rio Tinto has systematically put profits before people, sometimes with fatal consequences.

“Workers are saying enough is enough.”