Monday, August 21, 2006
Escondida strikers reject offer
Well, this isn't good news. For a while Escondida shut down completely. Now it's open again, it seems, running at about half capacity. And the union rejected the new wage offers half way through the meeting.
As a result, copper prices are up again, 1.5% on the day alone so far.
The thing is, the union wants a share of these current prices. But these prices are artificial and not sustainable. So if they lock in their wages at this artificially high price, the mines will lose money when prices drop again. How is anyone served by that? I don't get it.
Reuters via CNN.com
Striking workers at Chile's Escondida, the world's largest copper mine, have rejected fresh salary and benefit offers in a surprise vote that came after a week of hard negotiations.
'It (the offer) was just rejected unanimously in the assembly, halfway through the presentation,' union secretary Pedro Marin told Reuters late Sunday local time in Antofagasta, the mining town that serves Escondida and a host of other mines owned by multinational companies.
As a result, copper prices are up again, 1.5% on the day alone so far.
The thing is, the union wants a share of these current prices. But these prices are artificial and not sustainable. So if they lock in their wages at this artificially high price, the mines will lose money when prices drop again. How is anyone served by that? I don't get it.
Reuters via CNN.com
Striking workers at Chile's Escondida, the world's largest copper mine, have rejected fresh salary and benefit offers in a surprise vote that came after a week of hard negotiations.
'It (the offer) was just rejected unanimously in the assembly, halfway through the presentation,' union secretary Pedro Marin told Reuters late Sunday local time in Antofagasta, the mining town that serves Escondida and a host of other mines owned by multinational companies.
Labels: Copper
