Neves-Corvo Mine. Workers on strike

Workers at the bottom of the Neves-Corvo mine, in the municipality of Castro Verde, district of Beja, began a four-day strike this Monday, due to the implementation of a new shift rotation model.

The issue at hand is the fact that the concessionaire company, Boliden Somincor, has decided to implement, as of this Monday, a new shift rotation model at the Alentejo mine, with four days of work followed by four days off (4×4).

This change led the Mining Industry Workers' Union (STIM) to issue a strike notice this Monday and Tuesday for teams A and B at the bottom of the mine, continuing on the 20th and 21st for teams C and D in the same area.

According to a statement from STIM, this decision violates “the company agreement that has been in force” since 2019, considering it “ incomprehensible that the company does not serve the majority of workers, which reveals its total lack of respect and arrogance ”.

The union structure also accused the Neves-Corvo concessionaire of intending to “extract more ore by sacrificing the health of its workers and preventing them from having a dignified family and social life”.

In statements to the regional newspaper “Correio Alentejo” , published on June 6 and consulted by Lusa, the general director of Boliden Somincor, Gunnar Nyström, said that “ the strike is an inalienable right of workers, and it is up to each of them to decide whether or not to join it ”.

The manager assumed at the time that the company consulted the workers, “under the legally foreseen terms”, about the change to the proposed shift rotation, which “is framed in the company agreement that is in force” and “whose content was opportunely negotiated with STIM”.

According to Gunnar Nyström, “changing the shift rotation to 4×4 is an essential measure to improve Somincor’s safety rates and to increase the company’s production levels, reversing the negative trend seen in recent years .”

“With this change it will be possible to invest in projects that make it possible to increase the mine’s useful life, guarantee the maintenance of jobs and, no less important, continue to improve the safety conditions of our workers,” he added.

The Neves-Corvo mine produces mainly copper and zinc concentrates, as well as silver and lead. It is the largest zinc mine in Europe and the sixth largest copper mine on the European continent, as well as being the largest employer in the region, with around 2,000 workers.

The Alentejo mine is owned by the company Somincor, which Lundin Mining sold to the Swedish company Boliden, together with the Zinkgruvan mine in Sweden, for around 1.44 billion euros, in a deal completed on April 16.