Antofagasta Minerals Workers Take Equal-Pay Fight to Santiago After Chile Strike Vote
BUSINESS · CHILE
Key Facts
- —The country Chile is the world’s largest copper producer. Centinela, in the northern Antofagasta Region, produced 240,400 tonnes in 2025, its owner’s annual report says.
- —What happened On Tuesday 29 September 2026, two Centinela unions protested outside Antofagasta Minerals’ Santiago offices, a day after 98.73% of members backed a strike.
- —Who is involved The Minera Esperanza and Distrito Centinela unions, 708 members as of 30 September, joined by leaders of the CUT labour federation and the Mining Federation of Chile.
- —What it means for you No walkout has started and output continues. Centinela supplied 37% of the group’s 2025 copper, so a stoppage would register in copper markets.
- —Still open Whether mediation closes the pay gap. Union leaders estimate a legal strike could start on 13 October 2026 if talks fail; nobody has confirmed that date.
Antofagasta Minerals workers took their equal-pay dispute from the Atacama Desert to Santiago on Tuesday 29 September 2026. Leaders of two unions at the Centinela copper mine protested outside the company’s corporate building in Las Condes, a business district.
The rally came a day after 98.73% of members approved a strike, as The Rio Times reported on 29 September. The talks now enter a mediation stage that could push any stoppage into October.
Who marched, and what they want
Union presidents Héctor Aguilera of Distrito Centinela and Milenko Díaz of Minera Esperanza led the protest, Diario Financiero reported. José Manuel Díaz of the CUT, Chile’s largest labour federation, and Mining Federation president Marco García joined them.
The complaint is about equal treatment inside one mine. The unions say their members earn less, and receive fewer benefits, than colleagues doing the same jobs under another union’s contract.
They want the new contract to close that gap and to stop it reopening later. El Ciudadano, which filmed the rally, summed up the demands as equal treatment, fair pay and an end to discrimination.
No figure for the size of the gap has been published. The two unions had 708 members as of 30 September, according to Chile País Minero and Nueva Minería.
The company says it will keep talking
Antofagasta Minerals told Diario Financiero that the strike vote is a normal step in regulated collective bargaining. It said it respects its workers’ decisions and will keep seeking an agreement through dialogue.
The unions say they have prepared contingency plans to sustain a strike “as long as necessary”. At the rally they again urged the company’s top executives and controlling shareholders to get involved.
Centinela matters to the group. It produced 240,400 tonnes of copper in 2025, 37% of Antofagasta Minerals’ 653,700 tonnes, according to the 2025 annual report.
The same report forecasts 195,000 to 215,000 tonnes at Centinela in 2026, as ore grades fall back. A second concentrator is under construction, with ramp-up due to begin late in 2027.
Mediation now sets the clock
After a strike vote, Chilean law allows a government-run mediation known as “buenos oficios”. It lasts five days and can be extended if both sides agree, Chile País Minero explained.
That outlet reported late on 29 September that the unions had opened the mediation. Nueva Minería said the talks must now pass through that stage, without giving a start date.
Milenko Díaz estimated that, without a deal, a legal strike could begin on 13 October. Héctor Aguilera said members were ready, while admitting a stoppage would hurt both sides.
Both leaders said they remain open to a deal, and copper markets have noticed the risk. The Rio Times copper tracker rose 0.6% on 29 September as Chile strike risk offset a firm dollar.
A second protest in Santiago over housing
About 1,000 residents from the Movimiento Solidario Vida Digna protested at the Housing Ministry (MINVU) on Wednesday morning, El Ciudadano reported. They demand the return of 20,500 social-housing subsidies, known as DS49, cut in February.
Housing groups also want at least 50,000 such subsidies in the 2027 budget, Radio Universidad de Chile reported. Neither report carried a response from the ministry.
What Is Not Yet Known
The pay gap that Antofagasta Minerals workers describe has not been quantified by either side. It is also unclear exactly when the five-day period began.
The 13 October date is a union estimate, not an official one. Antofagasta Minerals has not said how a stoppage would affect its 2026 forecast for Centinela.
Sources: Diario Financiero on the Las Condes protest and company statement, El Ciudadano video report on the rally, Chile País Minero on mediation and the 13 October estimate, Nueva Minería on the negotiation stage, Antofagasta plc Annual Report 2025, El Ciudadano on the MINVU protest, Radio Universidad de Chile on DS49 subsidy demands.
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