(Bloomberg) -- BHP Group and union leaders in Chile reached a preliminary wage agreement on Friday, setting the stage for a resumption of normal production at the world’s biggest copper mine.
The main union at the Escondida operation will temporarily lift a strike at 8 a.m. local time on Friday in order to present the new proposal to their 2,400 members, according to company and union statements.
The two sides “have reached consensus on a proposal for a new collective bargaining contract,” BHP said in a statement.
If ratified, the accord will end a stoppage that has disrupted production at a site accounting for about five per cent of the world’s mined copper at a time of tightness in the supply of concentrate — the raw material used to feed smelters.
Workers downed tools Tuesday after failing to reach a wage deal with management in the obligatory phase of collective bargaining. Since then, the two sides have been engaged in on-again, off-again discussions.
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