15 November, 2010
The copper-mining strike by 1,551 members of Sindicato de los Trabajadores de Collahuasi in Chile enters its second week today, with miners emboldened by both fervent loyalty among union ranks and knowledge that company rhetoric concerning ongoing production is a deception for the benefit of world copper markets.
The company is Doña Ines de Collahuasi, the world’s fourth largest copper producer, owned by global mining giants Xstrata and AngloAmerican, with a smaller share held by Japanese industrial conglomerate Mitsui & Co.
Since the strike began on 5 November, the Collahuasi Workers’ Union has been united in a stand that most assuredly will bring them a fair share of the mine’s profits and more importantly, improved social provisions for their families. The ICEM has pledged global support to the union (see letter in Spanish) and commends Chilean mining unions for doing the same inside the South American nation.
Just One of the Daily Manifestations in Iquique
The union asked management to resume negotiations last week but the company refused, saying it would not re-enter talks without assistance from government mediators.
Even though Doña Ines de Collahuasi managers say publicly the open-cast Rosario mine is operating normally under a strike contingency plan, union spokesman Luis Espinoza Garrido told the ICEM the fallacious contingency plan consists of 300 scab workers from outsource companies providing output of no more than 18% of total production.
“Three hundred inexperienced workers cannot do the work of 1,550 miners,” said Espinoza. “This is unsustainable and the company will come to realise this.”
Espinoza said the strike is about far more than just pay and bonuses. He said key issues include health benefits, education for miners’ children, and work schedules. Considering Collahuasi vast profits – net earnings last year totalled US$ 1.56 billion – the union wants company-paid health costs raised from the current 80% to 100% and education costs hiked from 50% to 100%.
Strikers are Living in Santa María School
A major concern is the health of miners. The Collahuasi mine, located in the Atacama desert in Chile’s remote Region I, finds miners working at an altitude of 4,000 metres where oxygen levels are low and stress levels on the body are high. A US$750 million mine expansion is also underway that will lift production from 550,000 tonnes per year to a million tonnes annually, with altitudes expected to reach 5,000 metres in new mining areas.
Another concern is silicosis. Because of massive dust clouds at the mine containing crystalline silica particles, miners are endangered by the deadly lung disease.
Miners work seven days on, seven days off, and a further point of contention is management’s proposed changes to exceptional days off.
Since day one of the strike, most of the 1,551 strikers have taken up residency in the shuttered Santa María School in the Pacific port city of Iquique, 285 kilometres from the mine. In Iquique, both Doña Ines de Collahuasi managers and local governmental authorities siding with management accuse squatting miners of displacing the activities of youngsters.
Strikers Watch Children’s Sports Class Activities at School
In fact, the opposite is true. Strikers are encouraging children’s activities and yesterday, 14 November, the union held a community cultural event in the closed school.
The Collahuasi Workers’ Union has taken their protests to the streets of Iquique each and every day. On 11 October, 800 strikers occupied the offices of the company in Iquique, headquarters for the company, and have protested at a company molybdenum plant just south of there in the port town of Patache.
On 10 October, mine union leaders from BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto’s Escondida copper mine, BHP’s Spence and Cerro Colorado mines, Canadian Aur Resources Quebrado Blanca mine, Xstrata’s Lomas Bayas mine, Canadian Castle Rock Resources Sierra Miranda mine, and Chile’s Minera Cerro Dominador conducted a manifestation with the striking Collahuasi miners at the Santa María School.