CHILE: CONTRACT WORKERS FOR STATE-OWNED COPPER COMPANY STRIKE.
Thousands of contract workers for Chile's state-owned Corporacion del Cobre (CODELCO), the world's largest copper-mining company, conducted a month-long strike in June and July, cutting production as they demanded higher pay and production bonuses. It was the latest in a series of strikes as different groups of copper workers have sought to get a bigger share of high prices for copper (see NotiSur, 2006-02-24 and 2006-09-08).
Chilean and Peruvian workers seek higher wages
Contract workers began a strike at the company's mines on June 25, using burning tires to block entry to all the company's mining divisions except the largest, called CODELCO Norte, said Cristian Cuevas, president of the Confederacion de Trabajadores de Cobre (CTC), which organized the protest. About 18 workers were arrested at CODELCO Norte, he said. The company said the strike slowed output only at its smallest mine.
"We will do this as long as necessary," Cuevas said a phone interview from central Chile. "We are throwing rocks and have barricades in place."
Workers in Chile, the world's largest copper supplier, and in neighboring Peru are pressing for higher wages after the price of the metal almost tripled in three years. Before the strike began, copper futures in New York had jumped 18% in 2007.
Peruvian unions at two mines and a smelter owned by Southern Copper Corp., the world's fifth-largest producer of the metal, went on strike June 23. Hundreds of workers with a union at Collahuasi, Chile's third-largest mine, put down their tools and joined the strike on July 10.
Collahuasi management had raised their offer of a pay rise from 3.2% to 3.5%, but workers were demanding an 8% increase. Workers also want improved health and education benefits and a retroactive slice of company profits for 2005 and 2006.
Contract workers for CODELCO build infrastructure, repair machinery, clear rock, and provide food and transport services. The workers, employees of contractors hired by CODELCO, were seeking wages and bonuses closer to those of CODELCO's own employees, Cuevas said.
CODELCO said it had 30,300 contract workers as of February, compared with about 17,300 regular employees.
A walkout by contract workers in January 2006 at two CODELCO mines increased global copper prices even as the company said production was unaffected.
About 28,000 contract workers were taking part in the CODELCO protest, Cuevas said. The protesters burned two buses on the road to El Teniente, CODELCO's...
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