Escondida reached a preliminary agreement with the company’s Union No. 2, which represents supervisors and staff, during collective bargaining negotiations in the early hours of Wednesday, just hours before a strike was due to begin at the world’s largest copper operation.
Anglo-Australian mining company BHP put CLP 30 million on the table to break the deadlock in negotiations with the union, which represents 1,020 professionals, improving its proposal of CLP 29.5 million in net benefits submitted earlier this week, which included a low-interest loan.
People familiar with the agreement say the new offer includes a CLP 25 million dispute settlement bonus, a CLP 3 million low-interest loan and another CLP 2 million for other transactions. The contract includes a CLP 1.5 million vacation bonus to be paid in November regardless of circumstances; a net monthly transportation allowance of CLP 350,000; an education benefit of 25 UF for workers without children; maternity protection and family planning benefits with 100% coverage for egg freezing; a net monthly childcare allowance of CLP 600,000; and a return-to-work arrangement following maternity leave that includes one month of remote work after statutory postnatal leave.
The supervisors’ union voted on the proposal at 2 p.m., with 64.14% of members supporting it and 35.85% voting to reject the offer. Following the vote, the contract was signed yesterday afternoon.
The case at the operation run by Anglo-Australian company BHP was being closely watched by the industry because it often serves as a reference for subsequent negotiations at other mines.
Until now, however, the agreement reached at another of the country’s major mines, Compañía Minera Doña Inés de Collahuasi, had not been publicly known.
Through an early bargaining process, the country’s second-largest copper operation—controlled by Anglo American and Glencore, each with a 44% stake—reached an agreement with operators’ Union No. 1 involving payments totaling CLP 30 million during the first half of the year, according to industry sources. The previous collective agreement was due to expire in October.
The offer included CLP 27 million for concluding the agreement early and another CLP 3 million in a low-interest loan. According to the company’s 2025 sustainability report, the union represents 1,401 workers.
This early negotiation was one of the final measures undertaken during Jorge Gómez’s tenure before he stepped down as Collahuasi’s chief executive officer. On July 13, he became chief executive officer of state-owned Codelco.
Fiorella Ulloa, head of Political and Regulatory Affairs at Plusmining, said that following the Escondida agreement and the previously undisclosed Collahuasi deal, it would be “expected” that they would raise “the expectations of other unions and add pressure to ongoing negotiations, as well as those coming up.”
However, Ulloa noted that “rather than establishing a mandatory floor for the entire industry, these agreements serve as a reference, since negotiating conditions depend on the production, economic and labor circumstances of each operation.”
Despite the industry’s weak production performance, Ulloa said that “large mining companies generally have greater capacity to negotiate substantial incentives, although there are important differences between operations in terms of profitability, costs and production conditions (…). In collective bargaining, companies consider not only the cost of the benefits offered but also the economic impact that a prolonged stoppage could have. In many cases, reaching an agreement with substantial incentives may be more advantageous than facing a strike that jeopardizes operational continuity and causes production losses.”
Nevertheless, she said negotiations between unions and mining companies “are also beginning to signal the working conditions that companies are seeking to introduce.” In Escondida’s case, she noted that “proposals for multiskilling and changes to work schedules reflect an interest in introducing greater flexibility and operational efficiency (…). Although these measures were withdrawn during mediation, they show that future negotiations may be shaped not only by discussions about financial benefits but also by work organization, productivity and workplace safety.”
Source: El Mercurio