BHP Requests Formal Meeting With Escondida Union to Resume Talks
- Company asks union to resume negotiations in month-long strike
- Offer includes improved proposals on points union sees as key
Workers gather outside the Escondida copper mine during a strike, near Antofagasta, Chile, on March 8.
Photographer: Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
BHP Billiton Ltd. has sent a formal request to meet with union leaders at the world’s largest copper mine in Chile, the first attempt to meet since talks failed on February 20, the company said in an emailed statement Friday.
BHP wants to propose a new wage offer that includes improvements in several areas that the union has said are essential to resume negotiations, Patricio Vilaplana, Escondida vice-president of corporate affairs, said in an interview in Antofagasta on Thursday. Vilaplana didn’t specify what the changes were.