Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

BHP´s Escondida mine in Chile offers early retirement package amid pandemic, union balks

Published 08/07/2020, 20:42
Updated 08/07/2020, 20:45
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Global miner BHP Group Ltd (AX:BHP) said on Wednesday its Escondida copper mine in Chile, the world's largest, had offered some workers the option for early retirement amid the coronavirus pandemic, a plan blasted by the company´s union as a scheme to oust the old and sick.

Escondida said in a statement to Reuters the offer would provide an "improved" package of retirement benefits to workers who met its "requirements." The company declined to detail those stipulations.

But its powerful workers union said they were intended to entice the elderly and those with health conditions to retire early at a time when many still need to work. Government mandates have already required the most vulnerable workers be sidelined to protect their health.

"(BHP) is trying to try relieve itself of the burden of holding the jobs of the sick and elderly, who beyond ... retirement, will now be left unemployed," the union said in a statement.

The union said it would closely monitor the plans to ensure they were not used as a pretext to eliminate workers during the pandemic. There are 2,372 unionized workers at the mine.

The dispute between BHP´s Escondida and its unionized workers comes as the coronavirus outbreak has exploded across much of Chile´s mine-rich northern desert. The South American nation has recorded more than 300,000 cases of the virus and upward of 6,500 deaths.

Mining Minister Baldo Prokurica has pleaded with mining companies to refrain from layoffs and protect the health of workers while maintaining output.

Escondida did not specify the number of workers it hopes will take the retirement option.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.