The union at US-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's (NYSE: FCX) Cerro Verde copper mine in Peru went on strike indefinitely Thursday, sources with the company and union confirmed to BNamericas.
Roughly 1,100 of the union's 1,200 total members opted to strike to demand better pay, William Camacho, undersecretary of Cerro Verde's union, told BNamericas.
"The union, government and company representatives are said to be holding talks later [Thursday] in Lima to reach a probable agreement on workers' salaries and conditions," Camacho said.
According to Eric Kinneberg, external communications director for Freeport-McMoRan, the union and company have been in pay talks since September 1 on contracts that expire December 31.
"The parties previously agreed to a November 15, 2008 target completion date for the new collective bargaining agreement, with a signing bonus to be paid if this target date is achieved," Kinneberg said by email.
"Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde is committed to concluding these negotiations prior to the target date and is ready to return to the negotiating table at any time," he added.
Cerro Verde produced 179Mlb (81,193t) of copper in this year's first quarter to generate US$30.1mn profits. FCX owns 53.7% of the mine, Japan's Sumitomo has 21%, Peru's Buenaventura (NYSE: BVN) 18.2% and minority shareholders including employees the remainder.
