Chip Roy
Representative for Texas · Republican · United States
“We don't necessarily need a bureaucratic organization that its entire organizational structure and bias is structured against us, despite the fact that we fund the overwhelming majority of its operations. The United Nations has been operating against our interests.”
“Madam Chair, I note that it is just not enough for us to say that they can do better. This is an organization that has too often allowed terrorist infiltration within its own entities and sided with terrorist organizations directly against us and our allies.”
“When you are a nation that is $40 trillion in debt, when you are a nation that is trying to figure out how to fund the basics of government and find the dollars that we need to secure the Nation with a strong defense, to modernize our military, to ensure border security, all the things that we need to do while we are still racking up debt…”
“Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman from Florida for his strong work on making reforms to this appropriations package. He did it in the previous Congress last year. He is doing it [[Page H4521]] again this year.”
“Again, I applaud the chairman for all of his great work on things like UNRWA, working in collaboration with me and others on trying to remove that funding--it was very important--the United Nations Human Rights Council abomination, the United Nations Population Fund, other things that I know that the gentleman has been working on.”
“Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following: Sec. __.”
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“Madam Chair, I urge adoption of the amendment to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent on advancing American interests, not funding institutions that too often work against them. We are wholly prepared as a nation to be able to address these issues and concerns. You say, what will happen? China, Russia, and the rest of the world fear the United States. They do not fear the United Nations. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.”
“We don't necessarily need a bureaucratic organization that its entire organizational structure and bias is structured against us, despite the fact that we fund the overwhelming majority of its operations. The United Nations has been operating against our interests. We are asking American taxpayers to continue to take those dollars and give them to an entity that has, in its open statements to the world, been against our interests so many times, time and time again, including siding with some of the worst countries on the Human Rights Council and the biggest abusers of human rights. The United Nations is put and exalted as somehow being those that we should listen to rather than the United States. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.”
“Madam Chair, I note that it is just not enough for us to say that they can do better. This is an organization that has too often allowed terrorist infiltration within its own entities and sided with terrorist organizations directly against us and our allies. I have seen repeated reports of misconduct involving United Nations peacekeeping operations and too little accountability for those failures. We act as if the United States is not capable of working on unilateral, bilateral, and other bases to be able to do all the great things we want to do around the world. My dad is a polio survivor. There are a lot of things that we can do to try to make sure we are eradicating these things around the world.”
“It has stood up in solidarity with the worst and most evil countries in the world against our interests and dared to wag their finger at the United States, built on the back of our funding and generosity and, by the way, real estate, to give them a platform to target us and to target our interests, in addition to constantly and consistently going after our friends in Israel. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.”
“Again, I applaud the chairman for all of his great work on things like UNRWA, working in collaboration with me and others on trying to remove that funding--it was very important--the United Nations Human Rights Council abomination, the United Nations Population Fund, other things that I know that the gentleman has been working on. To be very clear, I am not trying to impugn the bill in any way from that perspective. I just wish to go further. I think it is important that we pull the funds from an entity operating against our interests. It has repeatedly failed to earn the confidence of the American people.”
“When you are a nation that is $40 trillion in debt, when you are a nation that is trying to figure out how to fund the basics of government and find the dollars that we need to secure the Nation with a strong defense, to modernize our military, to ensure border security, all the things that we need to do while we are still racking up debt to the tune of--by the way, paying for interest on the debt to the tune of over a trillion dollars a year, spending more on interest than we are on our own national defense, it strikes me as an inappropriate use of taxpayer money to continue to send that money to an entity that has been working in such negative ways with respect to our interests as a nation.”
“The bill continues to fund millions of dollars for the United Nations, despite longstanding concerns over anti-Israel bias, corruption, peacekeeper misconduct, institutional failure, and ways in which the United Nations operates on a regular basis in direct contradiction to the interests of the United States. That is undeniably true for observers of the United Nations, particularly over the last couple of decades and in recent years.”
“Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman from Florida for his strong work on making reforms to this appropriations package. He did it in the previous Congress last year. He is doing it [[Page H4521]] again this year. There have been a number of significant reforms that he deserves credit for, and I wanted that to be clear when I am offering amendments to change the text. I would note there are still things in the appropriations process that I am not fond of using taxpayer money for, and the United Nations is one of those things. The amendment that I am offering here would prohibit any funds in the bill from being made available to the United Nations at all.”
“Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following: Sec. __. None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be made available to the United Nations. The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 1423, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy) and a Member opposed each will control 5 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.”
“Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on ordering the previous question. The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the ayes appeared to have it.”
“Immediately upon adoption of this resolution, the House shall proceed to the consideration in the House of the bill (H.R. 2753) to amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to provide for a point of order against reconciliation measures that cut benefits for Medicaid or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and for other purposes. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. The bill shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and on any amendment thereto, to final passage without intervening motion except: (1) one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Rules or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to recommit. Sec. 7.”
“That is just the truth. Mr. Speaker, 77 percent of the world's electric vehicle batteries are manufactured in China. China owns 80 percent of the industrial cobalt mines in the Congo and controls 15 of 19 of the primary cobalt mines in the Congo. These mines are operated by trafficked child slaves. Since when do we not care about that? The idea that California can do this unilaterally is preposterous. They are the only State allowed to seek waivers under a unique policy. They should not be able to determine policy for the State of Texas or any other place. Mr. Speaker, I support this rule, and I urge my colleagues to support this rule. The material previously referred to by Ms. Leger Fernandez is as follows: An Amendmentto H. Res. 354 Offered by Ms. Leger Fernandez of New Mexico At the end of the resolution, add the following: Sec. 6.”
“Do you think the hardworking plumber I represent in San Marcos, Texas, in New Braunfels, Texas, or any other part of Texas is going to go out and get a battery- powered truck to drive across 10 counties to carry out his job or his livelihood? As I said before, the average EV costs $14,000 more than the average nonluxury vehicle. Mandates disrupt the free market. We have talked about the impact these mandates can have on the reliability of our power grid. Is the Nation's grid even up to the mandates we talk about? No, it is not because then there will be more mandates on what the grid has to look like. Suddenly, we are Spain. Suddenly, we are wondering why the grids are failing. Importantly, California's move empowers China, which dominates the EV market and uses slave labor and coal-powered plants to produce EV batteries.”
“They have to pay their bills today. All the subsidies in the world aren't making those things economically viable for them. Whether you are talking about wind farms or EVs without the mandates, what is clear is the American people aren't buying these things because they are still not able to function and carry out their livelihoods effectively under the mandates. Higher costs and fewer choices for consumers hit low-income and disadvantaged communities the hardest. There is a reason why, when I drive around Austin, Texas, I see it is the rich folk driving around in their Teslas. It is the rich folk who are getting their EV tax credits. I see it. They are not in east Austin. They are out in the rich parts of Austin. Mr. Speaker, do you think that is an accident?”
“Pelosi), the former Speaker of the House, came down and described that somehow we are not factoring in the price of clean air. With the vehicles that we are producing today, the fact is we have the cleanest air we have ever had. There is no problem with having EVs. It is the mandates that are the problem. It is mandating the American people must convert that is the problem. In fact, worldwide, the extent to which coal-fired plants in China, coal-fired plants in India, and other countries around the world are producing CO 2 and other particulate matter that is bad for the air is rising. Why would we undermine our own economic well-being to pursue a negligible impact on the overall global emissions, while driving up the price of goods and services for the average American family? They have to live for today.”
“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, number one, Congress has an important role to play in repealing the Biden-Harris administration's EV mandates and other rules that are damaging the lives of the American people. When the administration transmits an action to the House and the Senate for review under the CRA, then it is Members of Congress, not the GAO and not the Parliamentarian, who decide whether and how we proceed under the CRA. The fact here is California mandates, which is what we are dealing with here in several of these Congressional Review Act actions, effectively take away Americans' ability to buy new gas cars, a hybrid vehicle, or the vehicle of their choice. It raises their vehicle and transportation costs. The gentlewoman from California (Ms.”
“Both parties need to step to the table to get government out of the way and to allow doctors and patients to be able to go get healthcare from a provider of their choice--not some insurance bureaucrat or government bureaucrat--in order to deliver outcomes that the American people want us to deliver. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.”
“They don't want to talk about how you manage that problem, how you get more people to be able to have affordable care instead of what they currently have, which is a broken system that insurance companies run, forcing individuals onto an exchange so they can get like my constituent who passed away last year from cancer, who wanted to go to M.D. Anderson and could not go because she was on an [[Page H1703]] ObamaCare plan and couldn't go to the best cancer hospital in the world because she was covered under ObamaCare. The failure of our healthcare system cannot be overstated.”
“That is what we are putting forward, to try to deliver healthcare that would actually have a doctor and a patient relationship rather than a corporate overlord or government bureaucrat telling you what your healthcare is. That is the system that has been created. That is the system that we are living with now under expanded ObamaCare. That is what that is, expanded ObamaCare. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't want to talk about that. They want to talk about the expansion of that population into the able-bodied who could be and should be working at a higher rate of return by the Federal Government than is going to the vulnerable population, while California games the system to give money to illegal aliens. That is expressly and openly being acknowledged by California leadership. They don't want to have those conversations.”
“When you have a trillion dollars of improper payments, when you have the State of California openly and publicly stating that they are gaming the Medicaid system and the provider tax and the Federal match rate to provide funds to illegal aliens and for their general budget to game the system at what best can be called money laundering, as was editorialized in The Wall Street Journal last week. When that is what is happening, when you have people on Medicaid who are getting a higher subsidy than people on Medicare, who have paid into it their entire lives, into the tax on Medicare; when you have people who are able- bodied who are getting a higher subsidy than the vulnerable population for whom Medicaid was originally created, then someone explain to me why we don't have a duty to fix that.”
“That is the whole point of the problem with the rules and the rulemaking done by the Biden administration that we are trying to reverse under these CRAs, so that we can make things more affordable for the American people. That is it. We are trying to help the average Texan, the average New Mexican, the average American be able to afford to live, trying to be able to figure out how to get power, get a vehicle that they can afford to be able to carry out their job. That is it. On the issue of healthcare, the issue was raised, as is often the case by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, to try to scare the American people that somehow raising questions about the inefficiency, the ineffectiveness, the waste, the fraud of a government healthcare solution, that somehow that is taking away benefits.”
“When you have a cloudy, windless day, how are you getting power? Who is making the parts for the solar panels? What happens to the solar panels in the environment when you are finished with the solar farm? All of these questions get brushed aside in a quest to say that we can have magical ``green, clean energy,'' when we have clean-burning natural gas in Texas and throughout this country that is producing a significant amount of economic benefit and power for our country and has done more to drive down CO 2 production and for clean air than virtually any other innovation we have had over the last century. Yet, we are impeding the ability to have more reliable power by virtue of mandates. That is the whole point of the problem with the Inflation Reduction Act.”
“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would note that with respect to wind energy, yes, Texas is one of the leaders in wind energy. I worked for Governor Perry when the Governor was embracing wind power, and the fact of the matter is, as it has become a larger percentage of the grid, the reliability of Texas' grid has suffered, and now the consequences of having embraced wind as a significant portion of the grid are now coming to roost. We are now having to deal with what happens when these need to be shelved. Where do they go? They fill landfills. How much oil and gas goes into the production of said windmills? How do you get the power from the wind farms in west Texas to the various facilities where we are making power? How reliable is it during ice storms or during the heat of the summer?”
“Then they want to blame tariffs when we are 90 days in, and we had massive and rampant inflation under the Biden administration as a direct consequence of the regulatory policies and the failed policies of the previous administration. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.”
“Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to parade around EV mandates like they are somehow going to magically create power out of thin air, ignoring the fact we are empowering China, ignoring the fact we are empowering Chinese child laborers while we destroy the cost of living for the average American family, take away choice, take away the ability of an American citizen to be able to go out into the market and buy a hybrid vehicle or another vehicle that they can use to travel long distances, do their job, whether they are a plumber, an electrician, or carrying goods and services in a truck, and then they wonder why the cost of goods and services go up.”
“Freeland said last week in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a think-tank based in Washington, D.C., that democratic allies should embrace ``friendshoring,'' the practice of building supply chains through each other's economies. ``If we are to tie our economies even more closely together, we must be confident that we will all follow the rules in our trade with each other, even and especially when it would be easier not to,'' said Freeland. She added that Canada needed to show ``generosity in fast- tracking'' energy and mining projects for its allies that need to ``heat their homes and to manufacture electric vehicles.'' ``I cite these examples because, critically, friendshoring must be green. The curse of oil is real, and so is the dependence of many of the world's democracies on the world's petro-tyrants.''”
“Toronto-based Sherritt International Corp., which refines cobalt in Canada, echoed that sentiment. Lucy Chitilian, Sheritt's director of investor relations, said that while the step by the U.S. may provide ``greater impetus'' for Canada to build its own supply chain, the company doubts that ``singling out'' China as a consumer of cobalt mined by children is a move to push an agenda. The demand for electric vehicles, which contain lithium-ion batteries, has been on the rise as countries look to accelerate their net-zero climate plans. The world will need more than 20 times the amount of lithium that was mined last year to meet demand by mid-century, due to growth in energy storage and electric vehicles, analysts from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence said on Oct. 13.”
“Toronto- based Electra Battery Materials Corp.'s Joe Racanelli, however, said he doesn't think there's a ``direct correlation'' between the list and the geopolitical motives of the Inflation Reduction Act. He said that the industry has been trying to deal with the labour exploitation in DRC's informal mines for quite some time. ``People want to make sure that as you are driving an electric vehicle where there is no child labour involved,'' said Racanelli, Electra's vice president of investor relations. Electra recently inked a deal to supply global lithium-ion battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd. with 7,000 tonnes of cobalt from its Ontario refinery and will be importing feed for the mineral from DRC mines that meet global ethical standards.”
“In a similar vein, Theo Yameogo, head of mining and metals at global accounting firm Ernst & Young Global Ltd., said the latest step was taken due to ``concern around security of the battery minerals supply chain.'' However, the supply chain for minerals is ``very complex'' and focusing on cobalt alone would not solve the issue for the U.S., Yameogo said. Troy Nazarewicz, a spokesperson for Fortune Minerals Ltd., a company that's closing in on beginning construction of a cobalt mine and a refinery in Canada, said the U.S. was taking steps to ``diversify and reduce its reliance'' on China. ``It is basically to encourage and perhaps force companies to move away from Chinese sources of critical minerals,'' he said of the Labor Department's decision to link Chinese batteries to child labour in Africa.”
“trading partners. In August, the U.S. passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which states that EVs containing batteries assembled in North America and made up of critical minerals sourced from the region could receive up to US $7,500 worth of tax credits, which could offset some of China's advantages in the field. According to Moores, steps like these could cause a ``generational shift'' and Canadian miners would have to be ready to take advantage because ``Canada has the potential to be the gatekeeper for the North America electric vehicle boom, a key pillar of the Inflation Reduction Act,'' he said.”
“versus China trade war has spilled over into the EVs and lithium-ion batteries,'' said Simon Moores, CEO of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a research group based in London, in an interview. ``The U.S. will still rely on supply chains that pass through China for its lithium-ion batteries for some time, so it's a high risk strategy until the U.S. builds it own lithium-ion economy.'' Moores added that while DRC produces more than 70 per cent of the world's cobalt, ``not all'' of it is produced using illegal practices. China leads the global EV Industry and last year accounted for about half of all EV sales, according to the International Energy Agency. It also dominates the supply of metals required to make batteries that drive EVs. Washington appears intent on building a ``lithium-ion economy,'' which could benefit Canada and other U.S.”
“The compendium, which also linked solar cells from China and crude palm oil from Indonesia to forced labour, ``can be considered a risk radar used to raise public awareness'' on labour exploitation, said Christine Feroli, a spokesperson for the U.S. Labor Department. The addition of lithium-ion batteries to the list comes at a time when the U.S. is looking to diversify its supply chain away from China, which has a strong grasp of the EV sector, and toward its allies, a trend known as ``friendshoring.'' In a speech in Washington, D.C., last week, Canada's deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, also emphasized the practice, stressing the need to speed up the development of energy projects in Canada so that the nation can support allies in need. ``It feels like the latest chapter in the U.S.”
“The Labor Department said China imports almost 90 percent of its cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where a significant amount of the mineral is produced through informal mines that employ children. The Asian powerhouse uses about 50 to 80 percent of its cobalt imports to make battery chemicals and components, justification enough for including Chinese batteries among items produced with child labour, the Labor Department said. It's been known for years that child labour is prevalent among DRC's artisanal and small-scale mines, yet this is the first time the U.S. government has chosen to include Chinese batteries, which dominate the market. Companies that use products from the list are in no danger of prosecution, but they might face uncomfortable questions from customers, activists and politicians.”
“Says Chinese Lithium-ion Batteries Are Made With Child Labour as Trade War Spills Into EVs (By Naimul Karim) The U.S. government's decision to tie a generous electric- vehicle subsidy to inputs from friendly countries was an obvious attempt to shift the EV supply chains away from China. But the power of the purse isn't the only strategy available to Washington. The Biden administration in late September added lithium-ion batteries from China to the U S. Labor Department's list of products derived from child and forced labour, a more subtle example of how the United States intends to offset Beijing's influence over a once-in-a- lifetime technological change, some industry insiders say.”
“EVs are widely considered vital for confronting climate change, and the companies that make them are at an inflection point. The contracts and accountability measures they lock in now could affect communities around the world for decades. Many experts warn that companies are failing to ensure that their supply chains are free of forced labor, washing their hands of responsibility for upstream suppliers they shrug off as out of their managerial reach. ``We know from every other industry there is that if we don't fix this now, in the early [[Page H1701]] days of this transition, it will be a massive mistake,'' said Duncan Jepson, a lawyer and supply-chain management expert. ``But the auto companies are not giving much hope they are willing to do anything to make a difference.'' ____ [From the Financial Post, Oct. 17, 2022] U.S.”
“Though not all labor in Xinjiang is forced, China's lockdown on information flowing from the region led the U.S. government last year to bar the import of any Xinjiang-made parts and products out of a concern they could be made with coerced labor. The companies' kid-glove approach on China and potential violations of U.S. law come as the White House and powerful congressional committees scrutinize the EV industry, which is booming as automakers race to gain the upper hand in the transition to climate-friendly battery-powered engines. The situation in Xinjiang is a key point of tension in the strained relationship between China and the West, as the United States and allies step up enforcement of penalties on industries operating there.”
“ban on products made in Xinjiang emerge near the top of Tesla's sprawling network of suppliers, according to a Washington Post examination of corporate records and Chinese media reports. Among them are companies that have openly complied with China's quotas for moving minority Muslim Uyghurs out of rural villages and into factory towns through what Chinese authorities call ``labor transfers'' or ``surplus labor employment.'' Tesla is among several EV companies that have suppliers with Xinjiang connections, records show. Ford has a deal with a battery maker that congressional investigators allege has ties to vast lithium mining and processing operations in Xinjiang, and Volkswagen operates a factory in the region with a Chinese partner.”
“18, 2023] EV Makers' Use of Chinese Suppliers Raises Concerns About Forced Labor (By Evan Halper) Tesla boasts that its electric vehicles are a marvel not just of innovation but also ethics, pledging in annual reports that it will ``not knowingly accept products or services from suppliers that include forced labour or human trafficking in any form.'' The carmaker touts its teams of monitors that travel to mining operations around the world, and has pledged to mount a camera at an African mine to prevent the use of underage or slave labor. But Tesla has been conspicuously silent when it comes to China, despite evidence that materials that go into its vehicles come from the Xinjiang region, where forced labor has been rampant. Firms that appear to undermine a U.S.”
“``Our community is right next to CDM, but they don't do anything for us.'' Renault, Volvo VW and Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, responded saying they recognised the importance of responsible mineral sourcing, took the allegations seriously and would discuss the findings with their suppliers. ____ [From the Washington Post, Sept.”
“Huayou Cobalt said CDM ``adopted a policy of healthy and safe operation'' at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic until the government put forward its own pandemic prevention policies. It said all workers were paid in line with local labour laws. CDM has made significant contributions to the local community, Huayou Cobalt said, including organising agricultural education, building and renovating schools, setting up medical clinics and providing water and electricity to local villages. But there appears to be little sign of that in Kawama, a collection of red brick shacks with corrugated iron roofs held down by rocks. A woman heaves a bicycle laden with yellow water drums along a dry dirt track, a young boy helping to push from behind. ``There is no drinking water, no electricity, no school, no healthcare,'' claims Koffi.”
“Koffi, who worked at the mine as a security guard, told the Guardian he shared a hall with 80 others, with two workers sharing a mattress laid on a wooden board and propped up on bricks. ``I felt like a prisoner. I didn't have any freedom,'' he says. In interviews with the Guardian, some CDM workers say they are employed for as little as 88 a month. ``Payslips'' seen by the Guardian were written only in Chinese on a pencil-thin strip of paper. CDM is wholly owned by Huayou Cobalt, a Chinese conglomerate with interests in every step of the cobalt supply chain, from mining to cathode production. Renault and Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, name CDM among their suppliers.”
“To avoid its material being ``contaminated'' by cobalt from other sources as it passes along the supply chain, it is ``stored in clearly marked, segregated areas of the plant and is toll processed on lines dedicated for Tesla'', the report says. Two mineral experts told the Guardian this process is likely to be rigorous. Covid has compounded the already poor labour conditions endured by many workers. The community of Kawama stretches along one side of the main road south of Lubumbashi. On the other side stands the Congo Dongfang International Mining (CDM) mine and refinery. When the pandemic started, many CDM workers were confined to the mine for three months until the Congolese government compelled the company to release them.”
“Glencore said KCC only uses sub-contractors for specialist work or temporary contracts and monitors compliance with the terms of its contracts. ``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 . . . and the employees received the correct payment,'' a spokesperson said. In June 2020, Tesla signed a long-term deal to source cobalt from Glencore for its new ``giga-factories'' in Berlin and Shanghai. Tesla did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but in its latest impact report, the company says it procures cobalt only from producers in the DRC that meet its responsible sourcing standards.”
“This way they don't have responsibility and can end a contract at any time,'' says Kashal. While some workers said they hoped to get hired directly by KCC, saying it offered better wages than other mines, 44 percent of KCC's workers are employed through sub- contractors. The price is paid by men like Luc. ``I started on 80 a month while working as a security guard at KCC. Then KCC terminated the contract with the subcontractor and I suddenly lost my job, along with 600 other guards,'' he says. Luc was recently rehired by another security firm at the mine, but says he is still earning less than 140 a month. ``The main companies are treating the subcontractors well, but the subcontractors don't treat workers well. The mining companies are benefitting a lot, not the local people,'' he says.”
“The use of subcontractors can leave workers in an extremely precarious position: often hired on short-term contracts, or no contract at all, with limited benefits, low pay and the threat of termination always hanging over them. Josue Kashal, a lawyer for Centre d'Aide Juridico- Judiciaire, a local organisation that represents miners, says the use of subcontractors can lead to the big mines being able to avoid accountability. In his small office in Kolwezi, Kashal shows the Guardian a list of what he claims are more than 50 subcontractors that have been used by the Kamoto Copper Company (KCC) mine, which is owned by the Swiss commodities and mining giant Glencore. ``Glencore is using many subcontracted workers, so employees depend on the subcontractor, not Glencore.”
“``Where can I get another job?'' A spokesperson for CMOC, which majority owns TFM, said the company adheres to a number of international labour conventions and local labour laws. Since it acquired the mine in 2016, CMOC said it has contributed an average of 296m a year to the country's revenue. ``We are devoted to providing a safe, healthy and decent work environment to all employees and attach great importance to protecting the rights of employees,'' the spokesperson said. Mining for cobalt and copper is a vital source of income for DRC's government and creates tens of thousands of jobs-- with good wages for many--in a region with few other employment opportunities. But in some mines the majority of workers--almost 70 percent at TFM, for example--are hired through sub-contractors.”
“``We're being treated in a very bad way by the Chinese. I'm a victim of assault myself. I was slapped across the face four times,'' says Mutamba, another worker at TFM. One Congolese worker at TFM described sitting through a two-hour meeting in Chinese, only to be given a two-minute translation at the end. ``We feel humiliated and embarrassed,'' he says. ``The way they are treating our people, you can't believe. We are just expecting them to have respect for human life, instead of using people like slaves.'' Over the course of the investigation, workers interviewed by the Guardian said they deeply resented the way they were treated, but felt powerless to protest. ``It's a shocking situation, but I can't leave the job because there is no other choice,'' says one.”
“It is mining on a massive scale, highly mechanised and dependent on cutting-edge technology but powered by thousands of workers--more than 10,000 at TFM--who, like Pierre, are employed as mineral processors, drivers, mechanics, welders, security guards and general workers. In the last 15 years, Chinese companies have begun to enter the mining business, buying out North American and European companies so that they now control the majority of the cobalt and copper mines in southern DRC. And with this change, Congolese workers say, has come abuse, discrimination and racism. They say they are insulted, in some cases beaten, and claim they are paid less than Chinese workers who do the same job. They allege that Chinese supervisors disregard their experience and put production before safety.”
“That should be good news for people in southern DRC, where the majority of the cobalt mines are located, but a report launched today by UK-based corporate watchdog Raid and Congolese lawyers from the Centre d'Aide Juridico-Judiciaire, says many multinational mining companies--and the subcontractors they hire--create poorly paid jobs that keep workers in poverty. [[Page H1700]] ``Cobalt is an essential mineral for the green transition, but we must not turn away from the abusive labour conditions that taint the lithium-ion batteries needed for millions of electric vehicles,'' said Raid director Anneke Van Woudenberg. Kolwezi is the DRC's cobalt capital, a city so defined by mining that some communities sit on the rim of the giant craters that have been excavated in search of copper and cobalt.”
“In the UK, that growth will be driven by the government's ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2030. Last year, about 70 percent of the world's cobalt came from the DRC and the vast majority of that--93,000 out of 100,000 tonnes, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI)-- came from large-scale industrial mines. Although some battery and car manufacturers have reduced the amount of cobalt in their batteries, BMI says the volume of sales of cobalt into the sector will rise four or fivefold over the coming decade. The World Bank estimates that demand for cobalt production will increase 585 percent by 2050.”