UPDATE 4-Subcontractors strike at Codelco, Andina halted
(Updates with fresh Codelco comment, copper close on LME)
By Manuel Farias
SANTIAGO, April 16 (Reuters) - Fighting pitched battles with police, Chilean subcontract workers on Wednesday started a new strike at all of state-owned Codelco's divisions over work conditions and pay, forcing the No.1 global copper producer to close its Andina division.
An estimated 2,000 workers massed at Codelco's El Teniente mine alone, knocking giant tubes off the back of a flatbed truck as they were sprayed by water cannon. They also set fire to rubber tires on the road.
However, Codelco said its Codelco Norte, Teniente, Ventanas and Salvador divisions were operating normally.
The strike helped push copper prices on the London Metal Exchange up more than 4 percent in intraday trade, to within a whisker of all-time highs.
"(Andina) division decided to halt production activities given the action taken by a group of subcontractor workers poses a risk to the rest of the workers," Codelco said in an e-mailed statement.
Andina lies around 50 miles (80 km) northeast of the Chilean capital Santiago and produced 218,000 tonnes of copper in 2007.
"Codelco is sorry that a small group of people, who lend their services through some subcontracted companies, are trying to affect its production activities through the use of violence and threats," the company added.
Daniel Barria, Codelco's point-man in dealing with subcontracting firms, told a news conference the state company could also have to reduce copper concentrate operations at its El Salvador division.
Cristian Cuevas, president of the Confederation of Copper Workers which groups more than 30,000 workers at state-owned Codelco, said hundreds of subcontract workers had massed at the firm's divisions to block access to mines.
STRIKE INDEFINITE
"We are calling for the intervention of the government, because Codelco has lied to the country, to the church and to the workers," Cuevas told Reuters by telephone at El Teniente, where he was leading the protest.
"Our patience has run out," he added. "We will not lift this strike until there is an immediate solution."
Copper for three-months delivery closed 3.4 percent firmer at $8,720 a tonne on the LME after hitting an intraday high of $8,810.25 a tonne. The extent of copper's rally is seen dependent on the impact of the strike.
Copper hit an all-time record of $8,820 a tonne in March.
Cuevas said workers were striking at the Codelco Norte, Salvador, Andina and El Teniente divisions, and were blocking access to Chuquicamata as well as the firm's Ventana smelter.
The Confederation demands Codelco fulfill agreements reached in July 2007 which ended a long, sometimes violent strike for improved benefits and pay.
Subcontracted workers want pay and benefits in line with those enjoyed by Codelco's 14,000 unionized employees who do the same jobs across Codelco's five divisions.
They also want the company to absorb some 5,000 subcontract workers into its full-time ranks. Mine workers in Chile in general feel there is insufficient trickle-down of windfall earnings from Chile's main export at a time when prices for the red metal are around record highs.
Codelco says it has complied with agreements reached last year, but subcontractors say it has done little, other than make token gestures.
Codelco is the world's largest copper producer, with annual output of about 1.7 million tonnes per year. (With reporting by Simon Gardner and Monica Vargas; Editing by Christian Wiessner) |
