© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The brand of Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, is seen at their headquarters in downtown Santiago, Chile March 29, 2018. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado/File Photograph
By Fabian Cambero
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Employees for Chile’s Codelco won’t rule out a strike if the state-owned firm enacts job cuts to counteract a stoop in manufacturing, which has reached its lowest level in 1 / 4 century, the pinnacle of the corporate’s union affiliation mentioned.
In an interview with Reuters, Amador Pantoja, president of the Federation of Copper Employees (FTC) – which brings collectively the corporate’s unions – mentioned Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, ought to deal with getting structural tasks, which have confronted quite a few delays, into manufacturing.
“We have now mentioned in each tone that in the present day we’ve got a particularly pressured crew,” Pantoja mentioned, including that the variety of employees has dropped from 19,000 in 2015 to 12,000. “We can’t enable employees changes, we won’t afford anymore.”
Pantoja mentioned that the unions aren’t ruling out any actions to stress the corporate towards any selections that would cut back the corporate’s workforce and to pressure it to carry up agreements.
“We have now by no means dominated out something as a result of these are the instruments we’ve got to defend ourselves,” he mentioned.
“We perceive that there should be changes, but when they need decrease staffing, they might encounter surprises and employees are on alert.”
Pantoja additionally complained that the variety of contractors has ballooned to 60,000, with 23,000 concerned in manufacturing, which he says is in violation of earlier agreements.
“We’re shedding the commitments that we already had,” Pantoja mentioned, including that the FTC will host a workshop within the first half of November to current their imaginative and prescient of the scenario and options for the corporate.
One of many proposals contains returning upkeep duties from contractors to workers, which Pantoja says is among the important bottlenecks for present operations.
The union chief famous that the corporate’s present woes are “cyclical” and that employees have labored with the corporate earlier than to search out options.
“At one level up to now we froze our salaries, labored with administration to cut back prices and got here out nearly even between the price of manufacturing and the value of copper,” Pantoja mentioned.
He pressured that unions may also oppose makes an attempt to denationalise or enable non-public capital to enter Codelco.
“Having our firm 100% within the palms of the state is non-negotiable for us,” Pantoja mentioned.
(Report by Fabián Andrés Cambero; Modifying by Alexander Villegas and Diane Craft)
