With Chilean newspaper La Tercera this morning announcing that Chile's unemployment rate has climbed abve 10% and layoffs in the mining industry at 12,000 and climbing rapidly, the labour market in mapuchelandia is becoming a serious issue. So how do the local mining unions react? By threatening strikes! Here's an extract from this BN Americas report:
"If the layoffs continue, 2009 will be marked by strikes, work stoppages and protests," Marín said.
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LOL! I can just imagine the conversations between mining unions and Codelco management on this one:
Union: "If you don't stop laying us off from work, we're going to stop work."
Mgmt: "Great! Thanks! Go ahead! We're producing too much anyway, and this means we can avoid paying you without any of that mucking around with redundancy charges."
Union: We're not kidding you know...this is serious....we'll do it."
Mgmt: We can provide banners and stuff for your marches if you like.
Can somebody please take these unions leaders aside and explain to them the difference between a buyer's market and a seller's market? It's way too late to start complaining about the horrors of your country's neoliberal employment policies when it all goes sour.