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chile collahuasi union to start strike friday

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    QUIQUE, Chile - Workers will strike at Chile's Collahuasi mine early on Friday after wage talks failed, their union said, but the world's No. 3 copper mine said it could initially maintain output and history suggests the stoppage will be short-lived.

    Collahuasi's operator said it had activated a contingency plan, withdrawing non-essential staff not linked to production from the deposit, and could initially maintain output levels at 100 percent despite a strike.

    The union said the strike would be "long and indefinite." Past experience suggests otherwise. A strike during Collahuasi's last wage talks in 2007 lasted four days. Only two of eight major union strikes at Chilean copper mines in the decade lasted longer than 16 days and none lasted longer than 42 days.

    "The strike will be long," said Jacqueline Cerda, one of the union's leaders.

    After five days of government-mediated talks failed, union leaders said the strike would begin at 8 a.m. (1100 GMT) on Friday at the mine, which produces 535,000 tonnes a year, or 3.3 percent of the world's mined copper and is owned Xstrata and Anglo American.

    "We are sorry that it has come to this, but Collahuasi is committed to the process and workers, and will keep looking for a deal to the very last," said Bernardita Fernandez, a spokeswoman for the mine's operator.

    The standoff could set a precedent for upcoming wage talks at three other Chilean mines, which account for nearly 20 percent of the country's annual output, or 1.02 million tonnes.

    The threat of the strike contributed to a rise in benchmark copper prices on the London Metal Exchange to a two-year high of $8 600 per tonne.

    The operator of the mine had sweetened its wage proposal but workers insisted on better terms.

    Collahuasi's operator had raised its offer to $27 000 in bonuses and benefits per worker from an offer of $19,000, according to a copy of the latest wage proposal seen by Reuters.

    The proposal would also boost monthly wages and other benefits by 15 to 20 percent at the mine.

    The proposed offer was broadly in line with terms obtained by workers at the world's No. 1 copper mine, BHP Billiton's Escondida, in negotiations late last year that headed off strike action.

    Government-led mediation began on Friday, two days after union workers overwhelmingly rejected a company wage offer and voted to strike.
 
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