Chilean workers vote to strike at world's biggest copper mine
SANTIAGO – Workers at BHP Billiton's Escondida mine in Chile, the world's biggest copper mine, have voted to reject a company wage offer and go on strike, according to a communique sent to Reuters on Thursday.
A total of 2 330 members voted on strike action, with 1 955 supporting it and 370 accepting the company's final offer, with four blank votes and one spoiled ballot, according to the statement.
"We hope that given this clear wish to reject the company's offer, which has been expressed in a mature and democratic way by our bases, the company will see the need to find an agreement that recognizes our rights," it added.
BHP, which told Reuters earlier on Wednesday that it would not comment on the vote overnight, is expected to request government mediation to attempt a resolution, which could delay any strike action for as many as 10 days.
A looming strike at Escondida comes a little more than a year after a 44-day walk-off at the mine jolted global copper markets and docked economic growth in the South American country, which is the world's top copper producer.
The decision to strike had been widely expected as a partial count of votes circulated by the union on Tuesday suggested an overwhelming majority of its workers favored the strike.
The Anglo-Australian miner's final offer, presented to workers last week, included an approximately $18 000 signing bonus, and a 1.5% boost to salaries, with increases for inflation.
But the union had asked for a signing bonus around twice that offered by the company, and had requested a salary increase of 5%, leaving a wide gap between the two parties ahead of the vote.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation