Strike
Glencore mine workers vote strike and ask for a bigger bonus
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Hernán Vargas S.
Economy and business
The Mercury
The hectic 2018 in the area of ??collective bargaining for large-scale mining in Chile - where 28 contracts will be renegotiated - could start with a strike.
The union of Lomas Bayas, 100% owned by the Swiss company Glencore, rejected the last offer delivered by the company and had planned to start a stoppage today.
The arrest of the task, however, was suspended after the company asked the Labor Directorate yesterday a mandatory mediation - previously known as good offices -, according to the president of the Lomas Bayas union, Pedro Valdivia.
Today negotiations will begin in the afternoon, which have a duration of five working days and which could be extended if both parties so require.
Valdivia said that if an agreement is not reached, the legal strike would begin on Tuesday of next week.
The union leader explained that workers are looking for a better bonus for the end of the conflict than the one offered by the company, given that the outlook for the price of copper is positive and, in fact, the red metal is traded over US $ 3 per pound. .
He added that the offer of the firm contemplated the payment of a bonus for $ 5 million for each worker, but that the union sought to get closer to what was delivered by Antofagasta Minerals - Luksic mining arm - to the Centinela operators, where it was delivered a bonus for $ 14 million gross.
The CEO of Glencore, Ivan Glasenberg, told investors in mid-December that he saw options for new stoppages in Chilean mining companies given the high number of collective bargaining negotiations.
In Chile, the Swiss is the owner of the Lomas Bayas and Altos de Punitaqui mines (medium operation), as well as the Altonorte metallurgical complex and 44% of the participation in Doña Inés de Collahuasi, the second largest copper mine in the country. country.
Amounts
Company would have offered $ 5 million bonus, but the union would seek to approach the gross $ 14 million that Sentinela (Luksic group) gave.
