11 January, 2010
Short strikes by copper miners in Chile have ended and new collective agreements are in place with both the state-owned copper company, Codelco, and with Anglo-Swiss multinational Xstrata. Striking mineworkers at Codelco’s Chuquicamata complex have settled, however an agreement still needs to be reached for 280 miners at the state-owned firm’s Codelco Norte and for 500 miners at El Teniente.
Meanwhile, mineworkers at Xstrata’s Altonorte copper smelter agreed to contract terms, following one week of industrial action that ended on 4 January.
Some 5,600 miners at Chuquicamata, located in Chile’s northern region, ended two days of strike action on 5 January after accepting a pay rise of 4% and a bonus totaling US$24,280. Codelco’s Chuquicamata workers also won a US$6,000 interest-free loan. Miners voted by 2,610 to 1,203 to accept the deal.
The Chuquicamata produces around four percent of the world’s total copper supply. The vast complex includes the Chuquicamata and Mina Sur mines, and the short strike boosted global prices to a 16-month high. Union leaders had been seeking a 7.5% salary increase and a US$28,000 bonus, claiming the cost of living in the remote region is higher than anywhere in Chile.
It was the first strike at these Codelco mines since 1996. The new collective agreement will last 38 months and took effect on 1 January.
The settlement at Xstrata’s Altonorte smelter, also in Chile’s northern Region II, includes a two percent increase to base wages, a bonus of US$5,000, and an annual production bonus of US$1,500. The new collective agreement will be in effect for a three-year period, backdated to 18 December 2009. Miners of Labour Union No. 1 at Altonorte began their strike action on 28 December.
Altonorte employs 660 workers and treats raw copper and other mining by-products to obtain copper anodes. The site has the capacity to produce 290,000 tonnes per year of copper in anode form. Xstrata is the fourth largest copper producer in the world.
End-of-year negotiations at both Codelco and Xstrata coincided with a big jump in global copper prices, bringing pricing levels to 130 percent of what they were in early 2009. Codelco resumes bargaining with miners at El Teniente in March.
Chile, the world’s largest copper producer, reached an output of 5.3 million tonnes in 2008, and it is estimated that the 2009 figure will be similar. This equals roughly one-third of total global production.