CHILE: MONTH-LONG STRIKE AT ESCONDIDA, WORLD'S LARGEST PRIVATE COPPER MINE, SETTLED WITH 5% RAISE FOR WORKERS.
Chilean union laborers conducted a nearly one-month-long strike at the world's largest privately-owned copper mine, Escondida, pitting 2,000 workers against the Australian corporation BHP Billton. Record copper prices and profits for Billton encouraged union leaders to strike against the Melbourne-based company, although the union ultimately voted to accept a 5% pay raise, coming down from an original demand for 13%. The strike has implications for other sections of Chile's massive copper industry, with employees of the state-owned Corporacion del Cobre (CODELCO) mulling work stoppages of their own to get a bigger share of copper export revenues.
Four-week strike nets US$17,000 bonus
Union members at Chile's Escondida mine accepted new contracts on Sept. 1, ending a 25-day dispute, but it would take up to a week more for full production to resume. Workers voted by more than 13 to one to accept a new 40-month contract, with a 5% wage raise and a US$17,000 bonus. The new contract also provides health and education benefits for members, said a union official.
Escondida, owned by Anglo-Australian company BHP Billiton, produces 8% of the world's copper supply. During the strike, with production down to about 40%, it was losing about US$16 million every day, said company officials.
Managers at Escondida had been offering a 4% raise, while the union sought 8%--down from an original demand for a 13% pay raise and a bonus of US$30,000. Before the strike, corporate managers had offered a raise of only 3 percentage points above inflation rates.
The union said 1,607 workers voted to accept the deal, with 121 voting against.
Union president Luis Troncoso said that both he and the workers were satisfied with the outcome and that the contract would be signed on Sept. 1, with miners returning to work the next day.
In a statement, Escondida said it was "convinced that the final result of this large process will prove beneficial to both sides."
Copper prices have hit record highs this year'because of the strong global demand led by China. This is the main reason that workers at the mine said they deserved a substantial pay raise. The union, Sindicato de Trabajadores de Minera Escondida, said that they had been prepared for a two-month strike, much longer than a day-long work stoppage the union previously ordered and shorter strikes recently carried out at other mines. As the strike began, workers implemented their "square wheels" strategy, slowing work to...
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