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Mining salaries in Colombia

Two million pesos per month for the Drummond workers doesn't sound too shabby.

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Glencore, Unions Avoid Strike At Colombian Coal Mine - Union

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
July 14, 2008 5:01 p.m.

BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--Swiss-based Glencore International AG agreed with workers of its Colombian mine of La Jagua on a salary package and avoided a strike, a union leader said Monday. "There was an agreement with the company, so the strike won't go," Joaquin Romero, president of the country's main mining and energy labor union, told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview on Monday. "People are happy with the agreement."

The company offered to raise salaries by 9% this year and by inflation plus 1.6 percentage points next year, Romero said.

Workers at La Jagua, a coal mine owned by Glencore that produced 2.5 million metric tons of coal in 2006, voted July 4 to go on strike. They had until July 16 to make the decision effective. The negotiation ended before the deadline and the strike was avoided.

Coal is Colombia's second-largest legal export after oil and represented 13% of the country's revenues from sales of products abroad in the first four months of this year. Glencore is the country's third-largest coal miner.

Miners in all the country's mines are increasingly demanding as high coal prices are boosting companies' profits.

Miners at Glencore earn about 1.4 million Colombian pesos ($791) a month, Romero said. Workers had also asked the company to spend more for social services in communities surrounding the mine, and the company agreed partially.

Workers at La Loma coal mine, owned by Alabama-based Drummond Co. Inc., which produced 22.9 million metric tons in 2007, also voted last week to walk out. Drummond is the country's second-largest coal miner.

Negotiations between the labor union and the company on salaries are ongoing. "We were going well until yesterday," Juan Carlos Ortega, spokesman of the local union, said Monday. Workers may strike on July 16 if there is no breakthrough, he added.

Workers are demanding a pay raise of between 9% and 10%, but the company offers only 8%. Workers are also asking for a special bonus so the company shares part of its extra benefits from high coal prices. Mine workers at Drummond earn an average of COP2 million a month, Romero said.

The workers' salary demands exceed inflation as they expect prices will speed up in the coming months, Romero said.

Executives from Glencore and Drummond didn't return telephone calls seeking comment.

By Tinto (Moderator) on Jul 14, 2008, 14:52 in Friendly Talkzone.

Lipper says on Jul 14, 2008, 19:36:

Rule #1, never post on a Mods Post! Or you will be deleted.

Sorry Tinto (aka, the nicest Mod on PBH), but your post is doomed for the Sahara desert of PBH posts!

However, I have always liked you so let me try to bump this into Vegas Show Lights notice!

FIRST: All the Swiss are crooks! It is very well known! Do I really need to read past the first few words?

SECOND: Read the whole article....my reply?.....WHERE IS FARC WHEN YOU NEED THEM to put foreigners in their place? Coal is in the jungle yes? The jungle is controlled by FARC, yes? The Swiss are crooks by nature, and upbringing, yes?

So, Colombia should kick out all the Swiss! Seems pretty simple to me!

Good post...just needed the right questions asked!

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kernow62 says on Jul 14, 2008, 20:40:

2 million doesn't seem too bad.

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Mononoke28 says on Jul 15, 2008, 07:41:

I was thinking about this the other day because two of my cousins are going to the Universidad de Antioquia to major in Mine something. Don't really know what it is but it has to do with mining and I thought what kind of jobs can you really get with that? Good jobs, bad jobs. Who knows.

Diana

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kernow62 says on Jul 15, 2008, 08:19:

If they are going to university they won't be your average worker. So they should get very nice jobs. Mining is a very good profession for those who are the engineers, or as we call them mine captains.

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Mononoke28 says on Jul 15, 2008, 08:25:

Nice to know. Does that apply in Colombia though? Where you see unemployed doctors, lawyers and engineers driving cabs or working at store in San Andrecito?

Diana

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kernow62 says on Jul 15, 2008, 08:48:

Don't know, but I can't imagine all the mining engineers in Colombia being foreigners. So what is their other choice, skip university and go straight into a taxi? If you have the opportunity to get an education, a professional qualification, you will always have more opportunities.

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Mononoke28 says on Jul 15, 2008, 09:27:

I just don't know when it comes to that stuff in Colombia. I know that they ended up studying it because they couldn't get into medicine and they only had room for mining, so they had no choice. But I always wondered that once they graduate, what are they going to do?

Diana

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Jul 15, 2008, 09:34:

Depending on what they are studying, they may have opportunities open to them in the oil and gas business, too. A lot of top people in the petroleum business have mining degrees.

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tasco66 says on Jul 15, 2008, 09:44:

“Miners at Glencore earn about 1.4 million Colombian pesos" that’s about three times the minimum wage in Colombia, that according to Elmo most Colombians don’t even make per month. We need more "crooks" like this in Colombia!

Bravo, Presidente Uribe for the perfect operation!

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tasco66 says on Jul 15, 2008, 09:49:

By the way Glencore was formerly called Marc Rich & Co. Now that was a "crook" until Slick Willie gave him a Presidential pardon of course

Bravo, Presidente Uribe for the perfect operation!

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tomass says on Jul 15, 2008, 11:34:

Great time to study to be a mining engineer in Colombia. Country vastly underexplored - terrific potential. The chinese will be here in droves in a few years. The Andean belt dont stop at the border of Peru or Panama. U, gold, platinum, copper, etc - then theres the current prices of metals and forecasts.
60 companies exploring - double 12 months ago. Mining code and judicial rights still need work though.

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Mononoke28 says on Jul 15, 2008, 13:18:

I'll let you know what happens with them job wise. I personally don't have a good feeling future wise but I hope I'm wrong. I just go along with them and say "that's great! You'll do just fine". But on the inside I'm like "Good luck dude, you'll need it".

Diana

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