Chilean authorities gear up to remove workers from Mantoverde plant as strike continues

 A Chilean court on Friday authorized authorities to use force to remove striking workers from a desalination plant serving Capstone Copper’s CS.TO Mantoverde copper and gold mine, escalating a labor dispute hours after workers voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer.

Employees at Mantoverde rejected a revised proposal presented by the company that included final payments equivalent to about $17,400 per member and a 1% wage adjustment, meaning their strike launched at the beginning of this month would continue.

With just 14% of eligible employees voting, they overwhelmingly opted to reject the offer, according to the union. The group alleged the offer worsened terms compared with a prior proposal and described it as an anti-union maneuver.

It also said workers had just received an annual bonus that would help sustain a prolonged walkout, putting the payment at about 2.2 times monthly salary per worker.

The legal fight has focused on Mantoverde’s desalination plant on the coast, roughly 40 km from the mine, which supplies water used by the operation.

Capstone has said that on the evening of January 18, individuals entered the desalination facility while workers were inside, and interference with the plant’s electrical system led to an interruption in water supply to Mantoverde.

The company has said striking union members were preventing access has said those occupying the plant are a minority group of employees and not backed by the union.

Capstone has warned the water disruption forced it to rely on on-site reserves for essential services and temporarily halt parts of operations, including sulphide processing, with additional stoppages possible if water could not be restored.

Chile’s labor authority is readying a case against the company over alleged anti-union practices, according to the union, including illegal replacement of striking workers. Union representatives have also met with outgoing President Gabriel Boric to ask for his help in restarting negotiations with the company.

(Reporting by Fabian Cambero; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Cassandra Garrison and Sarah Morland)