A union at BHP’s Cerro Colorado copper mine in Chile voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer, it said on Monday, paving the way for a potential strike at the small operation.
The union had last week called on its members to reject the contract offer, saying that BHP was using regulatory issues as an excuse to lowball workers with an inadequate proposal.
The strike option received 98% of the votes cast on Monday, the union said in a statement sent to Reuters.
“The rank and file of our union have spoken out rejecting the latest offer from the administration and, as of tomorrow, the union will proceed with the respective request for mandatory mediation,” the union said in a statement.
BHP said in a statement that it regretted the union decision, given that its latest offer had improved fixed and variable payouts, and cited the potential impact from environmental regulation that could affect the mine’s operation.
“The company maintains its position of being open to dialogue in search of an agreement that is of mutual benefit to the parties,” it added.
Chilean law allows both parties involved to request government-led mediation for five to ten days in an effort to reach an agreement and stave off a strike.
The global miner this month struck a deal with Chilean workers at its massive Escondida mine that led to record-breaking benefits, an outcome that will likely raise the bar at Cerro Colorado and elsewhere for global top copper producer Chile.
Far smaller Cerro Colorado produced about 1.2% of the South American nation’s total copper output in 2020.
(By Fabian Cambero and Adam Jourdan; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Barbara Lewis)
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