translated from Spanish: The last move: Codelco offers 14 million pesos to miners to avoid strike in Chuquicamata

Codelco presented a new offer to the workers of the M Ina of Chuquicamata, which includes benefits for 14 million pesos per head, in order to avoid a strike in one of its most important deposits.
As confirmed on Thursday trade union sources, the new offer was presented by the world’s largest copper producer last midnight, because this Thursday expires the mediation process that the parties agreed to the direction of work to reach an agreement and Avoid paralysis.
Last week, by a large majority, members of three Chuquicamata unions rejected a “last offer” of the company, which included benefits for 9,850,000 pesos per worker, and approved the strike, after which the mediation process began.
The new offer also includes a salary adjustment of 1.2% and the signing of a new collective agreement of 36 months in lieu of one of 27 months of the previous offer.
Total worker benefits are broken down into a 9 million peso bond for the term of the bargain, another one million per overtime working day, 3 million for a soft loan (no interest) and another million for a mandatory mediation agreement.
According to the unions, which still have to debate and vote on the proposal, the State company requires that it be voted in ballot box and not by hand, in addition to an agreement that both parties can disseminate it in detail.
Codelco’s goal is for trade union leaders to truthfully communicate the benefits and for workers to have all the information at the time of voting.
The company also seeks to extend the mediation stage for another five working days, as permitted by law, so that trade unions can discuss and vote on the weekend. The three unions in conflict total 3,178 workers.
Codelco said that its offer expires next Monday, and until now, the unions had discrepancies with the company in some points, posing as axes of the process, as participation in the process of transformation of the open pit mine to underground.
The workers also demand a health plan and a retirement plan when the mine transformation is completed, which is one of the structural projects of Codelco and represents an investment of 5.5 billion dollars.
This and other similar projects seek to modernize and extend in about 50 years the useful life of the main deposits of the company, which produces about 1.7 million tons of copper a year, and suppose a total investment of 18 billion dollars.

Original source in Spanish