SANTIAGO – The union of supervisors at state miner Codelco’s Gabriela Mistral mine in northern Chile has rejected the company’s final offer for a new collective labor agreement, raising the specter of a strike in the coming days, the union president told Reuters on Tuesday.
The union said Codelco, the world’s top copper miner, failed to satisfy its demands for a signing bonus, and that the company was attempting to negotiate different terms for each of the division’s unions.
“We rejected their proposal and have voted to strike,” union president Ana Catalan told Reuters.
Codelco did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the union vote.
Chile’s labor law now requires the two parties attend a five-day period of government mediation to forestall a walk-off.
Gabriela Mistral produced 122,700 tonnes of copper in 2017 and 96,500 tonnes between January and November of 2018.
(By Fabian Cambero and by Dave Sherwood; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
