And while more than 2,500 of 5,000 direct employees have since voted to cease the strike, according to Drummond officials, Edgar Munoz, vice president of Sintramienergetica, the main union, said representatives were standing firm —although consultations will likely continue.
“We have not contemplated lifting the strike,” Munoz said, according to Reuters. The union represents more than 50% of Drummond’s Colombian employees who have been on strike since July 23 over wages and working conditions.
In all, the strike shuttered two mines and slashed national coal output by some 30%, a drag on economic growth in the largest mining sector for Latin America’s fifth-biggest economy ahead of one of the world’s major mineral commodity expansions. Still, analysts say the strike will have little impact on global supplies.
