BHP submitted its final offer this Monday to the Supervisors and Staff Union No. 2 at Minera Escondida, the country's largest copper mine, located in the Antofagasta Region. The proposal includes $28 million net per worker, and workers have until this Tuesday, October 13, to accept it.
According to CNN Chile, citing Diario Financiero, the offer arrived during mandatory mediation. This is the final stage of talks before the union can go on strike.
If no agreement is reached, 1,020 supervisors and staff workers would stop work from the first shift on Wednesday, October 14, according to ADN Radio. The union reportedly already has a camp nearly ready to set up during the strike.
Where does the $28 million come from? Of the total, $25 million consists of bonuses and $3 million is a soft loan repayable over 36 months. A soft loan offers favorable terms, but the worker still has to repay it. The bonuses include $4 million for concluding negotiations and another $4 million for reaching an agreement during mediation. The company would pay them within seven days of signing.
The proposal also adds a new Vacation Bonus of $1.5 million a year, payable in November. It also raises the Transportation Allowance to $350 thousand net per month for those living outside Antofagasta.
For variable incentives, the MAV Bonus could reach twice the base salary, and the BRE Bonus would reach $6 million at 101% target achievement. An additional 10% is included for attendance if the operation meets its budget. The main bonuses and allowances would be adjusted every six months according to the CPI (Consumer Price Index, the official measure of inflation).
The package includes maternity benefits: up to 100 UF for egg cryopreservation, a nursery allowance of $600 thousand net per month, immediate payment of maternity leave benefits, and one month of remote work after postnatal leave. It also improves health insurance and dental coverage and includes an education reimbursement of 25 UF. Places in the extraordinary exit plan would increase to 16, plus another 10 on a one-time basis.
BHP withdrew the voluntary exceptional 14x14 shift schedule and the productivity incentive called "multiskilling" from the table. Any provisions of the 2023-2026 collective agreement that are not amended would remain in force.
The figures vary depending on who is counting. ADN Radio reported that the offer totals up to $29.5 million when the negotiation completion bonus, the loan and the vacation bonus are added together. Union president Alexis Barrera rejects that way of adding them up: "The rest does not count for us because these are loans that the worker later has to repay".
For Barrera, what the company is actually offering is $25 million, and the union considers that insufficient. He uses as a benchmark what other unions at the mine obtained in 2024: a $33 million package, with a $30 million negotiation completion bonus, a $1 million results bonus and a $2 million soft loan. In other words, the negotiation completion bonus in that agreement exceeded the one now being offered by $5 million.
The union is also seeking a monthly production bonus, salary improvements and changes to performance evaluations. "We are asking for what the other unions have," said Barrera, who said they remain "fully willing to continue negotiating".
Minera Escondida responded that its final offer improves pay, bonuses and allowances and incorporates new benefits. It added that its supervisors and staff remain among the industry's best-paid professionals.
None of the sources estimates how much a work stoppage would affect copper production. The union's response is due this Tuesday, and if it is negative, the strike would begin on Wednesday, October 14.