Boric’s government does not believe that companies “have to focus only on the extraction of raw materials,” the official said, adding that the functions “have to be created in places without saturation and better ventilation conditions.”
Codelco’s smelter, located 150 kilometers west of Santiago, was recently involved in several cases of poisoning, posing a health hazard to residents of the area. For this reason, the Chilean president made the decision together with Codelco’s management to close the plant.
“This decision was made considering the recurrent cases of poisoning that has occurred in the area of operation of the smelter, the constant temporary closure of schools, sick children and the environmental saturation of the area”, explained the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, on June 18.
Following the announcement of the closure, the Federation of Copper Workers (FTC) -a trade union organization to which many Codelco workers belong- expressed concern about a possible privatization or about the commitment to sustainable industrialization.
In this context, the FTC announced the call for a national strike for Wednesday, the first that the government of Gabriel Boric, who took office in March, will face.
Likewise, he assured that they maintain the mobilization with the objective of “achieving investments so that Chilean copper continues to be smelted and refined in Chile.”
The unionized workers insisted that Ventanas needs 53 million dollars for some capsules that retain gases and thus continue carrying out its operations under environmental compliance, which was dismissed by the government.
Despite the closure of the Ventanas smelter announced by the Chilean government – which must be ratified by Congress-, Gabriel Boric assured the foundry workers on Saturday that his Executive is not going to “leave them alone.”
To this end, the president of Chile explained that “all the necessary measures” are being taken so that, “in the direct benefit of the population”, it does not generate negative consequences for the company’s workers.”
“I can responsibly affirm that no worker will be left without their job in the company,” he said.
Source: Ambito
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