Thousands of workers at Freeport-McMoran’s gold and copper mine in eastern Indonesia have begun a month-long strike over a wage dispute.
Union spokesman Juli Parorongan said roughly 90 per cent of the Papua mine’s 12,000 workers were taking part in the action, which began on Thursday.
They are seeking pay rises from $US2.10 ($A2.05) to $US3.50 ($A3.40) an hour to globally competitive levels of $17.50 to $43, he said.
The strike is the second this year at one of the world’s biggest gold and copper mines.
An eight-day stoppage in July – also in protest at low wages but also the dismissal of union leaders – brought the mine to a near standstill.
The Phoenix-based company lost production of 1.8 million kilograms of copper and 213gm of gold per day, analysts say, or about $US30 million daily.
Workers only returned to their jobs after management agreed to reinstate the union leaders and reopen talks on wages and benefits.
“We finally decided to go into this strike because negotiations from July 21 to August 26 failed to reach any agreement,” Parorongan said, adding that the company was only offering a 22 per cent hike within two years.
Company spokesman Ramdani Sirait said the US mining giant hopes to continue talks to try to find a fair and appropriate solution.
“There’s no legal basis for a complete work stoppage, or strike, since the laws provide chances for sustained dialogue and mediation,” Sirait told The Associated Press in an email.
In addition to the 22 per cent wage increase, he said the company was offering an attractive financial package, including a 230 per cent boost in bonuses for higher metal output and a 4 per cent contribution to the employee retirement savings plan.
“If totalled in a yearly base, the compensation package will amount to 26 times the basic monthly wage excluding overtime,” he wrote, adding that employees also get generous housing loans, bonuses and educational assistance for their children.
An inter-office memo from the company called on the workers to boycott the strike and to return to negotiations in good faith.
