Reuters reported that Colombian coal workers voted to strike over pay and working conditions at the 3 million tonnes per year La Jagua mine of Glencore's Prodeco unit.

Colombia is the world's fourth largest coal exporter and Glencore's La Jagua, one of the mining concessions it owns in the nation, has some of the country's highest quality coal.

Mr Ricardo Machado of the Sintraminergetica union said that after 40 days of negotiations with Prodeco, laborers voted unanimously to strike after the company failed to meet their demands over pay and improved working conditions.

He said that workers have 10 days to act on the strike vote but they cannot legally walk off the job for the first two days or the last two days of the period. If they do not carry out a strike during the allotted time, they must vote again. He added that "We were relatively close to a deal but it couldn't be reached. On July 9th 2012, we'll continue negotiating with the company."

The discussions involved workers at Carbones de La Jagua, one of five concessions that Glencore owns in the northern Cesar province, and Prodeco.

Unions use the threat of strikes for leverage in bargaining talks with mining and oil companies, which have been returning to Colombia after a fall in guerrilla violence over the last decade due to a US backed military offensive.

Any walkout would unlikely affect prices unless it drags on for several weeks, but the industry is watching closely because the quality of coal that the mine produces is in relatively tight supply.

In 2010, laborers at La Jagua went on strike for five weeks before signing a two year deal, and in 2011r, they struck for eight days at the 5 million tonnes per year Calenturitas mine.

Prodeco is Colombia's third largest coal exporter behind Drummond and Cerrejon, which is a JV by BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Xstrata. Prodeco produced 4.2 million tonnes of coal in the first quarter of 2012, a rise of 10% YoY from the first quarter of 2011.

Source - Reuters

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