A historic benefit has been agreed at BHP's sprawling Escondida (Escondida) copper mine, raising the likelihood of a new round of difficult negotiations and mine strikes across the country, miners and analysts said on Wednesday.
The union's success at the negotiating table is due to soaring copper prices. Copper prices hit record highs at the start of the year and remained high, fuelling workers' desire for higher wages, bonuses and a bigger share of profits.
The rise in copper prices comes as many mines in Chile, the world's largest copper producer, are waiting for new labour negotiations. These include El Teniente Copper, the flagship project of (Codelco), the Chilean state industrial company, as well as the small El Salvador and Ministro Hales copper mines, the Cerro Colorado project of BHP Billiton, the El Soldado project of Anglo American (Anglo American) and the Sierra Gorda project of Polish copper group (KGHM).
Unlike neighboring Peru, Chile was able to roughly maintain copper production at the height of the pandemic, and workers said they had experienced difficult and potentially deadly working conditions to keep the mines open. They should enjoy a fair distribution of profits.
Last week, the Escondida project, the world's largest copper mine, reached a compensation agreement. Earlier, the copper mine experienced a brief standoff that almost ended in a strike.
After signing the agreement, the union said each employee would receive benefits equivalent to about $30,000, including a bonus equivalent to 1 per cent of the dividend paid to shareholders, which would be distributed equally to all employees.
"the unions have high expectations for the negotiations because of the high price of copper," said Juan Carlos Guajardo, head of Plusmining, a Chilean consultancy.
He added that the resulting record benefits amounted to "implicit recognition of these larger demands".
The benefits of the Escondida project are significantly higher than the $24000 per person paid to union workers at (Antofagasta) 's Los Pelambres copper mine in Antofagasta in March.
Chile produces nearly 30 per cent of the world's copper, a key metal in construction and electric car manufacturing.
Recently, at the Andina copper mine near Santiago, Chile's state-owned copper company, (Codelco), three unions announced a strike and listed recognition during the pandemic as the key to negotiations.
"Today, we have to acknowledge [those sacrifices]," said Manuel Caas, a striking union secretary at the Andina copper mine, during a protest outside the Codelco office in San Diego.
Chile's Codelco, the world's largest copper mine, managed to increase copper production slightly at the height of the virus pandemic in 2020.
Caas acknowledged that the small Andina copper mine may not have the impact of the Escondida project, but said high prices and hard work should at least force the company to "retain existing benefits not only for existing employees, but also for potential employees".
Codelco has been careful about a 10-year, $40 billion plan to renovate the aging mine and said the final salary package proposed to the union was "the company's best effort within the framework of the transformation".
JX Nippon Mining Nishi Metal Co., Ltd. has fewer workers on its Caserones project than on Escondida and Andina, which also announced a strike last week.
Alejandra Wood, president of (CESCO), the Chilean copper and mining research center, said discussions about raising miners' royalties to help social welfare, as well as proposals to amend the constitution, also gave miners more weight.
"the price of copper is very high and people think profits have to be shared," she said. "there is no doubt that both the market and the political environment will affect workers' expectations."
