Freeport Union to Resist Move to Resume Grasberg Output Today

Mar. 5(Bloomberg)-Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX)'s workers at the Grasberg mine in Indonesia will resist the company's move to resume production today a week after operations were halted, a labor union official said.

"The management has contacted some workers, asking them to return to work today," Virgo Solossa, head of organizational affairs at PT Freeport Indonesia's labor union, said today by telephone from Timika near the mine in Papua province. "We will resist that without an official letter or memo from the company clarifying the situation."

Supply from Grasberg, which contains the world's biggest recoverable copper reserves, was halted last month after violence flared up among employees in the aftermath of a strike last year over pay increases. A three-month strike ended after Phoenix-based Freeport agreed Dec. 14 to increase wages.

Ramdani Sirait, a spokesman at PT Freeport Indonesia, didn't pick up calls to his mobile today and hasn't responded to e-mails seeking comment.