Workers at the world’s largest copper mine, Chile’s Escondida, pressed ahead with a 24-hour strike on Friday to demand global miner BHP Billiton raise bonuses linked to lofty earnings.
Hundreds of workers huddled at the deposit’s cafeteria and banged on the tables while yelling “till death” in a popular call for a prolonged strike that stems from their 25-day work stoppage in 2006, union leaders at the site said.
Union director Luis Valdes said the strike was an “initial warning” and workers want to speak to the president of the mine operator to raise an annual bonus linked to BHP’s earnings.
“The mine operations are completely down,” Valdes said. “Some BHP executives with no real power tried to speak to us, but we want to talk to people who can make decisions.”
The strike was scheduled to end at 8pm, but the union threatened to extend the stoppage indefinitely if BHP failed to boost a year-end bonus. BHP executives and union leaders were holding meetings, union sources said.
A BHP spokesman in London, Ruban Yogarajah, declined to comment on operations at the mine and the strike.
ANOTHER STRIKE
The strike comes on the heels of a 24-hour stoppage by workers at Chile’s Codelco, the world’s top copper miner, and further raises fears of more labor strife in the mining powerhouse that helped copper prices in London shed losses in early trading.
The 11,000-strong Mining Federation, a union umbrella group of private mine workers, told members to be on alert due to the strike at Escondida.
“We don’t rule out anything. Today, Escondida made the first step and set a precedent as workers at other unions are looking at this [strike] with great concern and growing anxious,” the head of the Federation Cristian Arancibia said.
Union leaders at other mines said that at the moment there are no plans of more work stoppages elsewhere.
There is no precedent for a nationwide, coordinated strike by private miners in Chile, where strict labor laws allow companies to fire workers who down tools outside the scheduled contract talks.
Escondida settled a 44-month contract with workers in 2009. There are no other major mining contract negotiations scheduled for this year in Chile.
The stoppage at Escondida could further strain the global supply, which has been repeatedly hit by bouts of bad weather, contractors’ protests and labor action in Chile, the world’s top producer of the metal.
LOST PRODUCTION
The mine, which produced 1.1 million tonnes of copper last year, or about 6.8 percent of the world’s mined copper, could lose about 3,000 tonnes of copper from the one-day strike.
If the Escondida union is able to pressure BHP to bow to its demands, it could prompt workers at other private mines to try similar strategies, mining experts and union officials said.
Escondida workers have demanded a US$11,000 bonus linked to the company’s annual earnings, but BHP has offered them about half that amount, union leaders said.
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