December 30, 2005
Contract workers at Chile's state-owned Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, have decided to go on strike demanding a one-off wage bonus from the government. The workers are keen to see a share of the windfall from this year's record copper prices. Codelco uses around 28,000 contract workers and is dependent on them for many of its processes. Union officials say they expect around 6,000 workers to strike.