Codelco, labor officials at odds over outsourcer disputes - Chile
Published: Friday, April 18, 2008 16:29 (GMT -0400)
By Pablo Gaete Business News Americas
bnamericas.com
As Chilean state-owned copper company Codelco underwent its third day of outsourced worker protests on Friday that have halted two mines, industry officials related to the issue debated the labor challenges the company faces.
At the X Expomin International Congress in Santiago, Eduardo Loyola, recently appointed chief of management of subcontracted companies for Codelco, said that although the company must make corrections to some of its labor practices, it is not its responsibility to negotiate with third party employees.
"We don't select the outsourced workers," he said, adding those responsible for negotiating working conditions with the subcontracted employees are their direct employers, Codelco's suppliers.
Loyola made it clear that Codelco is not willing to negotiate with workers it does not directly employ, especially when they engage in violence as a pressure tactic.
But Arturo Martínez, president of Chilean non-governmental labor organization Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), said the country requires basic changes to its labor legislation to allow subcontracted workers space for negotiation.
And if the necessary reforms do not occur, the protests will continue and spill over into Chile's private mining sector, he said.
"The concept of outsourcing has been distorted," Martínez said, adding that many private companies - both in mining and other industries - take advantage of legal loopholes to avoid responsibilities to their workers.
"We are not receiving 21st century answers to these problems," Martínez added.
Chile's labor minister Osvaldo Andrade, the president of the country's private miners association Sonami, Alfredo Ovalle, and the president of Chile's mining council Francisco Costabal were originally scheduled to be present at the Expomin labor debate Friday but all cancelled.
The CUT publicly supported the union of outsourced workers violently protesting against Codelco, led by Cristián Cuevas.
In a Friday telephone interview, Cuevas said the union plans to increase the intensity of its protests until Codelco agrees to renegotiate labor conditions and pay with the outsourced workers.
The same day groups of protestors carried out demonstrations in the region II city of Antofagasta and reportedly performed acts of violence in the El Teniente division in region VI that did not affect production.
However, unions of workers on Codelco's payroll at El Teniente reportedly said they expected the company to halt operations at the division if their safety is threatened.
Friday the Andina division in region V and the Salvador mine in region III remained stopped as a result of the protests. The Codelco Norte division in region II remained unaffected. Codelco is the world's largest producer of copper. |
