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The Chilean union of Albemarle Corp, the world’s leading lithium producer, reported on Monday that it has rejected the company’s latest labour contract offer, leaving workers to continue their strike that has extended for more than a month.
The 135-member ‘Albemarle Salar’ union, which includes about half of the workers at its key production plant in Salar, went on strike in August after failing to reach an agreement with the US-based lithium miner. The company says the prolonged strike has not yet affected its lithium production.
Atacama’s Albemarle operations in Chile are a vital source of the ultra-light white metal used in the batteries that power electric vehicles.
The company, which struck labour agreements with its three remaining Chilean corporations earlier this year, announced again on Monday that it had a “solid” contingency plan that ensured it could continue to meet customer needs during the strike.
The union claimed the miner had flown in workers by helicopter to replace those on strike, a practice it said violated union rights.
Albemarle extracts lithium-rich brines from beneath the salt flat at its Salar plant, then processes the distilled brines into lithium carbonate for batteries at its La Negra chemical plant near the city of Antofagasta in northern Chile.
