Supervisors at Chile’s Escondida copper mine, the world’s largest, rejected a collective contract offer on Wednesday, paving the way for a potential strike at the site.
Last week, the 1,020-member union received the final proposal and urged its members to reject it in the vote.
Under Chilean law, the parties must now enter a mandatory five-day government-led mediation process, which can be extended by mutual agreement for another five days, before a work stoppage can legally begin.
“The company’s offer demonstrated a complete disregard for the contribution made by supervisors and staff to the production and multi-billion-dollar profits of the world’s largest copper mine,” the union said in a statement, adding that 95% of participating members voted in favor of strike action.
On Friday, the supervisors rejected the company’s request to extend contract negotiations following the death of an operator in a maintenance-related accident.
The union said the offer does not represent a material increase over the current contract and objected to requirements that supervisors train to perform plant operations such as driving trucks.
BHP (ASX: BHP), which operates Escondida, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rio Tinto (LON: RIO) holds a 30% stake in the mine, while Japan-based JECO owns 12.5%.
(Reporting by Fabian Cambero, Editing by Iñigo Alexander)
