Supervisors at Chile’s Escondida copper mine, the world’s largest, rejected a collective contract offer on Wednesday, paving the way for a potential strike at the site.
Last week, the 1,020-member union received the final proposal and urged its members to reject it in the vote.
Under Chilean law, the parties must now enter a mandatory five-day government-led mediation process, which can be extended by mutual agreement for another five days, before a work stoppage can legally begin.
“The company’s offer demonstrated a complete disregard for the contribution made by supervisors and staff to the production and multi-billion-dollar profits of the world’s largest copper mine,” the union said in a statement, adding that 95% of participating members voted in favor of strike action.
On Friday, the supervisors rejected the company’s request to extend contract negotiations following the death of an operator in a maintenance-related accident.
The union said the offer does not represent a material increase over the current contract and objected to requirements that supervisors train to perform plant operations such as driving trucks.
BHP said in a statement that the offer presented to unionized workers “included improvements and new benefits beyond the current collective bargaining agreement,” adding that it may request mandatory mediation from the Labor Inspection Office in hopes of reaching a mutually beneficial agreement.
Rio Tinto (LON: RIO) holds a 30% stake in the mine, while Japan-based JECO owns 12.5%.
(Reporting by Fabian Cambero, Editing by Iñigo Alexander)
