Look for copper to stay up
Antofagasta's Striking Chilean Workers Reject Offer
2005-12-15 17:25 (New York)
By Heather Walsh
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Antofagasta Plc's striking railway
workers in Chile rejected a sweetened wage offer, extending a
strike that has slowed transport of copper from some of world's
largest mines, a union leader said.
Workers at London-based Antofagasta's railway unit,
Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia, turned down a proposal
that included a 3 percent salary increase and a bonus, said Luis
Ortiz, secretary of one of four striking unions, in telephone
interview.
The vote was the first by unions on a new offer since the
strike began on Dec. 7. Copper prices surged to a record that
day in London and New York on speculation that the protest would
disrupt supplies from Chile. The country is the world's largest
producer of the metal.
The largest of the four striking unions, representing about
150 of 368 workers, rejected the offer, which the other unions
accepted, Ortiz said.
Carlos Yanine, sales manager at the railway based in the
city of Antofagasta, said that some workers' votes remained to
be counted. He also said in a telephone interview that the
company didn't expect to make a new offer.
Antofagasta is Chile's third-biggest copper miner. The
railway transports copper for BHP Billiton's Escondida, the
world's biggest copper mine, and Codelco's Chuquicamata mine.
Chile's state-owned Codelco is the world's largest copper
producer.
--Editor: Kleege. |
