Codelco, Union Fail to Reach Accord to End Strike (Update1)
(Updates with union comment in second, third paragraphs.)
By Heather Walsh
Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Codelco, the world's biggest copper
producer, and a union at its largest division failed at a meeting
today to resolve a dispute over benefits that led the workers to
go on strike last week, a union leader said.
About 760 supervisors at a division in northern Chile of the
government-owned company went on strike on Oct. 8. Codelco didn't
make a new offer to end the conflict, said Mario Sepulveda, a
spokesman for the union, in a telephone interview.
``There are still a lot of differences'' between the two
sides' proposals, Sepulveda said. ``There was minimum
rapprochement.''
The protest sparked by demands for increased housing
benefits hasn't hurt mining at the division, which produced 53
percent of the company's copper in the first six months of the
year, according to a faxed statement by the division. Jaime
Andrade, a spokesman for the division, didn't return a call
seeking comment.
The union wants Codelco to sweeten its offer, saying that a
surge in copper prices has increased the company's profit. Demand
for copper has risen as companies in China and the U.S., the
biggest users of the metal, purchased more copper wire and pipe.
Copper futures for December delivery fell 16 cents, or 11
percent, to $1.288 a pound on the Comex division of the New York
Mercantile Exchange, the biggest drop since April 1990, on
concern that demand in China will slow. Even after the drop,
prices have increased 46 percent in a year.
--Editor: Jameson, Kleege. |
