Chile strike shuts down world's largest copper mine

Chile strike shuts down world's largest copper mine

Lamar Lawrence

Copper accounts for nearly 2.5 percent of Chiles’ gross profit. It also happens to be the World’s largest copper mine, producing on average 125,000 tons of copper per year. On Monday, August 7, 2006 unsatisfied workers began a strike. Workers started by turning off engines of mineral processing equipments, and most refused to report to their scheduled shifts. One reason why the workers were unsatisfied was because of the increase in copper prices. The workers claimed that the copper prices rose from 80 cents to three dollars per pound in the three years since previous negotiations. The strikers were also unhappy because, to them, it seemed that the company was paying the workers less money when they could afford to increase the workers wages. More than 2,000 workers at the mine demanded a 13 percent pay raise and a 30,000 dollar bonus. As a result of the workers strike, eight percent of global production is in jeopardy. And the company will incur daily losses of fifteen million dollars on the company. One thing that I noticed was that the strike not only had an effect on the company and its workers, but also the global market. Because of the stoppage in production of copper in Chile the trading prices of copper may increase in other countries.


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