Workers strike at world’s largest copper producer

SANTIAGO

Workers at Chile’s state mining company Codelco, the largest producer of copper in the world, went on an “indefinite” strike on Wednesday, unions said, protesting the closure of a foundry in one of the country’s most polluted regions.

Codelco announced last week that it would close the Ventanas foundry in the towns of Quintero and Puchuncavi.

The Copper Workers Federation (FTC) released a statement saying there was “full support for this paralyzation [of work] in solidarity with the workers at the Ventanas division” from Codelco’s other divisions.

FTC president Amador Pantoja told a local television station the strike will cost Codelco, which produces around 8 percent of the world’s copper amounting to 10-15 percent of Chile’s GDP, $20 million a day.

However, Finance Minister Mario Marcel contested that figure.

“For those figures to be correct, all Codelco operations would have to be paralyzed abruptly without this production being recovered in the future and none of those things are happening right now,” said Marcel.

“There is no paralyzation of operations, there’s a disruption of access by groups of workers.”

The FTC represents around 14,000 Codelco workers and another 40,000 external contractors, according to Pantoja.

Unions described the closure of the Ventanas foundry, located around 140 kilometers west of the capital Santiago, as “arbitrary,” and are demanding the government invests $54 million to bring the plant up to the highest environmental standards.

The entrance to Ventanas was blocked by burning roadblocks and dozens of workers waving Chilean flags on June 22.

“No to closure, yes to investment,” read one banner.

Spokeswoman Camila Vallejo said the government “remains open to dialogue” but that it was focused on “a more sustainable model of development.”