Escondida Strike Nears Conclusion

Striking miners at Chile’s Escondida mine, the world’s largest copper facility, are due to vote today, Thursday, on ending their action. A preliminary agreement between miners’ unions and mine owners, Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton, was signed Wednesday with unions agreeing broadly to the latest offer by the company which included a wage increase of 4 percentage points above inflation and a $17,633 bonus for each worker, according to BHP Billiton. The three-week strike at the mine was led by workers looking to share in the company’s windfall from high global copper prices.