On January 31, 2010 Rio Tinto locked out 550 union miners from its Boron, California Borax Mine.  When I was in Boron in January 2009 the town was barely alive; the heavy duty Rio Tinto corporate action will likely kill the town.

 

Meanwhile in Cleveland, Ohio, Alcoa Aluminum Corporation threatened to lay off 1,200 union workers unless Alcoa was given about 64 million dollars of taxpayer money to rebuild their 55 year old Mesta hydraulic press.

 

Alcoa, with Kucinich’s support, obtained the public money and hired Germany’s Siempelkamp Group to produce new ductile iron Mesta press hammer and anvil castings.

 

Question: why  is it that   Rio Tinto decided to lock out and Alcoa decided to lobby?   Does it have to do with differences in how labor is taxed in Cuyahoga vs Boron?