Workers at Escondida, Chile’s largest copper mine, reject offer and approve strike

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The workers of Chile’s Escondida mine, the largest copper mine in the world, approved to go on strike, rejecting by 99.5% the last offer of the company controlled by the multinational BHP.

Following the vote results that lasted until Saturday night, Union No. 1 reported in a statement that there were 2,164 votes in favor of starting the strike against 11 for accepting the employer’s latest offer, after almost two months of negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Chile 

In 2017, Escondida workers staged a 44-day strike, the longest in the history of Chilean mining. The strike generated US$740 million in losses for the company and meant a contraction of about 1.3% of Chilean GDP.

With an annual production of 5.6 million tons of copper, equivalent to 28% of the global supply, Chile is the leading metal producer. Mining represents between 10 and 15% of the country’s GDP and half of its annual exports.

In the midst of the pandemic crisis, during which Chilean mining never stopped its operations, the Chilean economy is poised to grow by up to 9.5% this year.

MEDIATION

The union leaders and the company may initiate a final government-mediated dialogue within five to ten days.

If they do not reach an agreement in this instance, a new strike will begin at the open-pit copper deposit located in the Antofagasta region, in the north of the country, which produces around 1.1 million tons of metal per year.

In a statement, BHP confirmed that it “will request the Labor Directorate’s mandatory mediation, ” the state office that resolves labor disputes.

“The company’s interest is always in reaching agreements with the workers, so we remain open to dialogue and to take advantage of all available opportunities to do so,” the company said.

For the union, the “resounding” result of the vote “demonstrates once again the high union awareness of our rank and file, who have been able to ponder that this offer does not contain any progress in the workers’ legitimate demands”.

The workers ask for a bonus in recognition of their work during the covid-19 pandemic, “equivalent to 1% of the dividends that the owners have received”, to be delivered on a one-time basis. They are also demanding a career development plan and education benefits for their children.

According to the union, in the midst of a historical rise in the metal price in international markets, which exceeded 10,000 dollars per ton, Minera Escondida projects revenues of more than US$10 billion this year.

Local media indicate that the company offered workers benefits of US$23,000, including loans and bonuses associated with different actions.

“We hope that this resounding vote will be the decisive wake-up call for BHP to initiate substantive talks to reach satisfactory agreements if it wants to avoid an extensive conflict, which could be the most costly in the country’s union history,” the union warned.

Minera Escondida is a mine located 170 km from Antofagasta (1,300 km north of Santiago). Its owners are the Anglo-Australian companies BHP (57.5%) and Rio Tinto (30%), and the Japanese company Jeco (12.5%).