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28 July, 2005
Police in the Philippines a week ago punched through strike lines of the unaffiliated Lepanto Employees Union at Lepanto Consolidated Mining Corp., the country’s largest copper and gold producer. The union struck 4 June over a pay dispute that has been unresolved since November 2004. On 8 June, the government issued a return to work order, but the vast majority of over 1,700 workers continued the union’s strike. The Department of Labour and Employment then issued dismissal letters to miners refusing to obey the strike’s termination edict. In 2003, a strike at the Mankayan, Benquet province, mine and smelting operations was also broken up by riot police. Two miners died in the process.