Strike violence halts giant Chile copper mine again

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7499428

Reuters
Sunday May 4 2008

(Adds background, details throughout)
SANTIAGO, May 4 (Reuters) - Chile's Codelco said on Sunday it had again suspended work at the world's largest underground copper mine, citing renewed violence by striking subcontract workers who began their labor protest 19 days ago.

State-owned Codelco suspended the morning shift at the mine after striking workers pelted buses carrying full-time miners with rocks overnight. It had only reopened the mine on Saturday, amid signs the strike would soon lift.

"There were incidents last night," a Codelco official said on condition of anonymity. "We will decide how to progress from here during the day."

Codelco said on Saturday its smaller Andina division, first shut 19 days ago during the latest in a series of strikes by subcontracted miners demanding a bigger share of windfall profits and improved work conditions, was back at work.
Its Salvador division was still shut and its two other divisions, Codelco Norte and Ventanas, have been operating normally throughout.

Codelco, which produces about 1.7 million tonnes of copper a year, said on Tuesday it had lost about 19,000 tonnes of production due to the strike, or about $100 million in losses.

Arturo Martinez, head of the CUT, Chile's largest umbrella workers union, said on Friday the government had made a proposal to end the strike but he gave no details. Union leaders are now studying it.

The government says the proposal focuses on Codelco and the subcontractors fulfilling a series of agreements reached last year, among them a pledge by Codelco to absorb some subcontractors into its full-time ranks.

With global copper markets already nervous about low inventories, the strike has helped keep copper prices near record highs of about $4 per pound.

Andina, about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of the Chilean capital, produced 218,000 tonnes of copper in 2007. Salvador, 685 miles (1,100 km) north of Santiago, produced 64,000 tonnes of copper last year.

Teniente, 50 miles (80 km) south of Santiago, produced 405,000 tonnes of copper last year. (Reporting by Manuel Farias; Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Bill Trott)