Peruvian copper miners win Freeport strike, 2011

On 29 September 2011 about 1,200 miners at Freeport’s Cerro Verde mining site began a 75-day strike. The participants were scheduled to walk off their jobs at 8:30 am Eastern Time. At midnight on the same day, 8,000 miners at Freeport’s Grasberg mine planned to begin a one month strike. The workers at both of these mines were part of the same miners union, all working towards the same goals. 

The strikes began after wage talk attempts had failed. The union’s general secretary said, “Freeport’s offer was insufficient. There was no chance of reaching an agreement”. 

The workers called for increased pay, claiming that the record profits for the company should be translated into increased wages. In July, Freeport had announced a net income of $2.9 billion for the span of the first six months of 2011. Workers were receiving between $1.50 - $3.50 per hour. This frustrated the workers, and they argued for several different pay increases, but ultimately settled upon an increase to $17.50 an hour. 

The Peruvian government’s Labor Ministry ruled the strike as legal, so the Freeport company was barred from hiring outside contractors and firing employees on strike. However, Freeport allegedly began hiring contractors anyway to fill the positions of the strikers, which the workers demanded be stopped. The government stepped in and also ordered the company to stop relying on the 600 some volunteers for labor and threatened to fine the company 26,380 US dollars if they did not comply. 

Despite this form of governmental support, government officials still inflicted violence on the strikers. On 10 October the para-military police, mobilized by the President’s government, opened fire on protesting workers in the nearby port of Timika. A dozen strikers were wounded and one (Petrus Ayamiseba) was killed. One of the wounded (Leo Wandagau) died five days later in his home on 15 October due to infection from bullet wounds. 

On 17 October, fifteen Cerro Verde Miners started a hunger strike in response to the military violence against their fellow protesters, hoping to pressure the government to more quickly resolve the dispute. The strike was an open movement and others were welcomed to join if they wished. Hundreds of miners and supporters also blockaded the mine, barring access to any strike breakers and contractors, and cutting off supply routes to the mine itself. 

The 110Km pipeline that channeled gold and copper concentrates from the mountains to Timika was cut in several places. It is unclear whether the destruction was done by the protestors or if the government was trying to set the protestors up to justify military action. 

Three contractors hired by the company were killed and three more injured in a reported ambush on a road leading to the mine. The perpetrators were also unknown. Officers with sniffer dogs investigated, but never prosecuted any citizens. 

On 19 October, the Freeport-McMoRan mine suspended all operations and refused to say how long the closure would last. Officially, the company blamed security issues and sabotage as reasons for the closure of the mine, however the hunger strike and actions of the campaigners, along with the violence against both sides appears to be a greater cause of the shutdown. 

Following the shutdown, the government began urging the management to resolve the strike by taking it to the Industrial Court. Following the suggestions of the court, the Freeport labor union agreed to cut the strikers minimum pay demand to $7.80 an hour in hopes to more easily come to a compromise with the mining company. The union also added a further goal to their campaign in response to the “termination” of hundreds of strikers from their job positions at the mine, and demanded that all relieved workers be allowed to return to their jobs.

After close to two more months of strikes, the Freeport company finally agreed to an increase in wages. The strike was crippling productions and severely hurting the copper market in Peru. Workers were offered a 37% increase in wages, improved housing allowances, educational assistance, and a retirement savings plan, all of which the workers agreed to. 

The agreement was seen by the press as a victory for Freeport’s workers, because even though their original requests called for much higher wages, they gained a substantial increase in wages and benefits.  Also, all workers were allowed back into their positions.