undertake a brief negotiation with the Adavasis using your sources of power and routes to 50 persuasion. Consider and present options that may lead to a resolution of this dispute.

Negotiation Exercise 9 Alcan Goes to India Montreal-based Rio Tinto Alcan (formerly Alcan) is the world's largest primary aluminum producer. The company has some 68 000 employees and 430 facilities in 61 countries; it posted a profit of $129 million in 2005. The company plans to develop a $1.8-billion strip mine and refinery in Orissa state, 1200 kilometres southeast of New Delhi, India. The company has only recently been given permission to begin developing the mine. For a number of years, local people have expressed concern that the mining activities will uproot the Adivasis, some of India's indigenous tribes. Several years ago the protests against developing the mine grew violent when state police fired guns at the Adivasis, killing three protesters, Rio Tinto Alcan's plans were put on hold while government officials conducted an inquiry into the deaths. The government concluded that tribal areas "cannot afford to remain backward for the sake of so-called environmental protection." Bhagawan Majhi serves as sarpanch (chief) of Kucheipadar village, where the violence took place. He has led the opposition to the mines since he was a teen, and says, "Our fight will continue until the government revokes its agreement with the company." Rio Tinto Alcan insists on carrying through with the mine, even though one of its partners in the project, Norway based Norsk Hydro, decided to quit the project after three of its employees were kidnapped by tribe members. Rio Tinto Alcan spokespeople claim that the mine can actually improve the life of the Adivasis. The company promises to create more than 1000 jobs, and each tribal family will be given at least one. Employees will get a health clinic that others in the area can use. Majhi does not believe that the Adivasis will be better off with the mine. For one thing, the Baphtimali Hill, which is sacred to their tribe, will be ruined. He also says that land is more important than jobs. "What will we do with the money? We don't know how to do business," he notes. He also talks about how the lives of villagers who accepted money from Rio Tinto Alcan in exchange for drilling rights have been ruined: "They spent it on alcohol, they married two or three women, they bought wristwatches and motorcycles," Majhi says. Rio Tinto Alcan's CEO at the time, Travis Engen, was given notice two weeks before the annual general meeting that several shareholders would protest the company's plans to develop the mine on Adivasis land. He knew that he would have to respond to their complaints at the meeting