“If we go on strike, Escondida will come to a standstill; it cannot operate,” says Alexis Barrera, president of Supervisors and Staff Union No. 2. Escondida offered the union a CLP 23.5 million settlement bonus, along with education and maternity benefits, among other provisions. The union says the company is introducing a 14-days-on, 14-days-off schedule that supervisors have rejected.
On Tuesday afternoon, BHP’s mining giant Escondida presented its final offer in Chile to Supervisors and Staff Union No. 2 as part of their collective bargaining negotiations. The company put forward several proposals, which were poorly received by the union. The union says a number of workers’ demands were left out.
“To be honest, this final offer is unsatisfactory because it fails to address many of the points we raised in our proposal, including clauses that apply to all union members. The company focused on some of the points we also requested, but those affect only specific groups,” union president Alexis Barrera told Pulso.
Escondida offered the union a net CLP 23.5 million settlement bonus for a 36-month contract; an annual CLP 1 million education benefit; and, for women, full coverage for egg freezing up to a limit of 100 UF, full-time remote work during the first month after returning from maternity leave, and a net monthly childcare benefit of CLP 600,000, among other benefits. People familiar with the process value the union’s demands at US$69.5 million.
Among the items the union says were not addressed are a vacation bonus, an increase in base pay, a monthly production bonus and changes to the performance evaluation system. “Our union is unhappy with the current performance evaluation system because it remains subjective. Scores are marked down, which hurts professional development and workers’ income — because it affects bonuses — and limits access to courses and postgraduate studies,” Barrera says.
The 14-on, 14-off schedule
Another point the union opposed was the company’s request to introduce a 14-days-on, 14- days-off schedule, which the union sees as a step toward requiring supervisors to perform multiple roles.
“That means we would operate haul trucks, rock breakers, cable-moving equipment — any equipment that needs to be moved when the crew or operators are not there in time would have to be moved by supervisors. That raises many safety issues. Supervisors are not familiar with equipment of this size. There is also the matter of certification. And it takes work away from other people. What they want is to get more work done with fewer people, because this would allow them to save on a certain number of workers. We are not willing to hurt other workers either,” the president of Union No. 2 explains.
The union leader says the settlement bonus comes with various conditions, including the 14-on, 14-off schedule and the broader duties the union opposes.
“If you look at it, once you take out the loan and the conditions forcing us to work the 14-on, 14-off schedule and take on multiple roles, the bonus is much lower than what we secured three years ago, in 2023, and far below the bonus Unions No. 1 and No. 3 obtained in the 2024 negotiations. They received around CLP 30 million plus CLP 3 million in loans. That is what Unions No. 1 and No. 3 secured. But that was in 2024. Adjusted to today, the settlement bonus alone would be CLP 32.7 million. What they obtained in 2024 would amount to CLP 36 million or CLP 37 million today,” he says.
People close to the negotiations say the company proposed productivity measures that would allow supervisors with proven experience and skills to voluntarily perform specific tasks for short periods. The 14-on, 14-off schedule would be one such measure, intended to be exceptional and voluntary during major contingencies.
“If we go on strike, Escondida will come to a standstill”
The talks between the two sides in the coming days carry significant implications for the mine and the country. The union has 1,020 members, but an actual strike could also affect the mine’s Operators and Maintenance Workers Union, which has 2,300 members, because its workers depend on supervisors in the chain of command. The world’s largest copper mine, which produced 1.3 million tonnes of the metal in 2025, would then be almost completely shut down.
Fiorella Ulloa, head of political and regulatory affairs at Plusmining, notes that three years ago, in 2023, this union rejected the final offer and voted to strike, but the stoppage never took place. After six days of mediation by the Labour Directorate, the parties reached an agreement shortly before the strike was due to begin.
“For that reason, a vote in favour of a strike is considered highly likely in the current process, but the likelihood of an actual work stoppage is moderate. The gap between the two sides remains significant, but both BHP and the union have experience resolving the dispute during mediation,” Ulloa says.
Negotiations between the company and the union began on August 27. Union members are due to vote on September 28, 29 and 30 on whether to accept the company’s offer. The current contract expires on September 30. The union is urging members to reject the proposal.
Barrera describes the union’s next steps: “We are going to go up to the mine, hold our assembly and tell people about the fine print behind the company’s big publicity push for its final offer. Since yesterday, we have been calling on members to vote for a strike. We must reject this offer and vote to strike.”
“We expect full support, because members — men and women — have been calling us to say they fully agree with the union leadership and are dissatisfied with the company’s final offer, even though the company is using its own executives to deliver information up at the mine as if it were a production or management meeting.”
If this strike goes ahead, to what extent would Escondida shut down?
There are 1,020 of us supervisors, and we have the full support of Operators and Maintenance Workers Union No. 1, which has 2,300 members. They understand very clearly that they cannot work without their supervisors, because that is required by law and by the written rules. So we believe that if we go on strike, Escondida will come to a standstill. It cannot operate.
Would it be a complete shutdown?
Almost complete. They have a contractor, Adecco, that moves a small amount of material in some areas of the mine, but that will make no meaningful difference to the company. If there is a work stoppage, production will undoubtedly stop.
Source: La Tercera