BHP Sweetens Contract Offer To Chile Spence Copper Workers-Union
October 06 2009 - 9:56AM
Dow Jones News
Global diversified miner BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP) sweetened the
contract it is offering the unionized workers at its Spence copper
mine in Chile, a union leader said Tuesday.
The two sides are currently in the middle of a five-day
government mediation period. The latest contract expired on Sept.
30.
If talks fall through, workers can legally go on strike on
Thursday.
"There's still room for this to be a substantially better offer,
but we have to admit that we've advanced in our negotiations,"
Spence union spokesman Francisco Aravena told Dow Jones
Newswires.
Spence's representatives didn't immediately return calls seeking
comment.
The 560-member union wants at 5.5% real wage increase, health
and social benefits as well as several bonuses.
The open-pit Spence mine, which came on line a few years ago,
produced about 165,000 metric tons of copper cathodes last
year.
This is Spence's second collective bargaining process as workers
- the first was negotiated in 2006 before the mine went into
production.
BHP also owns the Cerro Colorado mine and controls and operates
the Escondida copper mine in Chile. The latter will begin wage
negotiations later this year.
A local newspaper reported that BHP seeks to begin contract
talks early at Escondida in the hopes of averting a strike.
In 2006, when copper prices were booming, Escondida workers went
on strike for nearly a month, bringing the world's largest copper
mine to a standstill as they sought higher wages and production
bonuses.
-By Carolina Pica, Dow Jones Newswires; 56-2-820-4244;
carolina.pica@dowjones.com