MINEROS BUSCAN NEGOCIAR CON GOBIERNO Y EMPRESAS AMORTUGUAR GOLPE LABORAL POR CRISIS

Peru Miners to Seek Job Talks With Government, Firms (Update1)
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By Alex Emery

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Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Peruvian miners will seek talks with the government and companies to halt job cuts, a union official said.
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Miners will decide at the end of March whether to strike in mid-April to protest the firing of about 8,000 workers at units run by Newmont Mining Corp., Gerdau SA and Renco Group Inc., Luis Castillo, general secretary of the Mining Federation, said today in a telephone interview. Union officials today finished a two-day meeting without setting a strike date.
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“The crisis is hitting miners, and we hope dialogue will put a stop to these job cuts,” Castillo said.

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“But if there isn’t a reasonable solution, then we’ll have to take drastic measures.”
Unions will also pressure Congress to speed up a vote on a proposal to improve pensions and profit-sharing for some 130,000 miners, Castillo said.
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Mining companies including Glencore International AG, Volcan Cia. Minera and Pan American Silver Corp. are shutting mines in Peru and slashing jobs because of slumping metals prices.
Copper, zinc, lead, and tin have all fallen at least 35 percent since the start of July as the global crisis eroded demand. Peru is the world’s biggest silver producer, third- largest of copper, zinc and tin, and fifth-largest in gold.
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Copper futures for May delivery rose 3.7 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $1.537 a pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division. Zinc for delivery in three months increased $34, or 3.1 percent, to $1,145 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange, while lead climbed $35, or 3.5 percent, to $1,030 per ton.