SQM and supervisors reach agreement to avoid strike

Reuters | December 28, 2022 | 6:49 am Battery Metals Top Companies Latin America Lithium

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Chile is the second largest producer of lithium and holds the world’s third largest reserves of the metal. (Image courtesy of SQM.)

Chile’s SQM, the second largest lithium producer in the world, and a supervisors’ union reached a contract agreement Wednesday to avoid a strike at various units in the company, the union told Reuters.

“After more than two months of arduous negotiations, the No. 1 Union of Supervisors of the SQM Inter-company Group, unprecedentedly achieved recognition by the company for the work of its more than 1,000 unionized supervisors,” the union said in a statement.

The union said the agreement includes increased bonuses, salary readjustment due to inflation twice a year, and other benefits.

Both parties reached a preliminary agreement late Tuesday night and union members ratified the agreement on Wednesday.

Contract negotiations began in early November and will cover professionals from SQM SA, SQM Salar, SQM Nitratos and SQM Industrial.

(By Fabian Andrés Cambero; Editing by Louise Heavens and Chizu Nomiyama)