Strike ends at Chilean mining company

CHILE: The strike at Compañía Minera Candelaria, a subsidiary of Phelps Dodge, is over. On April 15, 555 unionised workers at the copper mine agreed to end their 16-day industrial action after voting to accept the company's offer on wages and benefits. The day before, on April 14, the 11-day-old hunger strike by 7 of the strikers, including the trade union president, was called off when management said it would continue negotiations. Included in the package offered by the company was a 3 per cent wage increase and improved benefits with regard to holidays, a bonus for education, medical and dental care, and a financial bonus linked to productivity. The leaders of the IMF-affiliated Consfetema, Salvador Castro, and the Candelaria mineworkers' union, Patricio Garate, praised the "heroic" strike by the mineworkers and expressed their appreciation for international trade union support throughout the dispute. The IMF and affiliates had written to top management at the transnational company and to Chile's minister of labour urging them to intercede in order to obtain a fair settlement to the dispute. The U.S.-based Phelps Dodge owns an 80 per cent share in Candelaria, and Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. and Sumitomo Corporation hold the other 20 per cent. The company, which is located in Copiapó, approximately 800 km north of Santiago, operates an open pit mine, a concentrator plant and port facility. Its copper production -- 199,000 tonnes in 2002 and an expected 240,000 tonnes in 2003 -- goes mainly to the USA and Japan.