Arauco Chile forestry operations hit by stoppages
SANTIAGO, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Chile's Celulosa Arauco, the forestry arm of industrial conglomerate Copec (COP.SN), said on Monday subcontractors had forced stoppages at a host of its installations in Chile by blocking access for thousands of company employees.
Arauco, one of Latin America's biggest forestry companies and a top cellulose producer, said subcontractors demanding higher pay had forced stoppages at 16 of its industrial plants, including power generation installations, and had prevented 14,000 employees from going to work.
The protest had also forced the interruption of more than 70 of its forestry operations, and the idling of more than 1,000 trucks used to transport wood, Arauco said. The bulk of its operations are in south and central Chile.
"This is not a legal strike nor is it the fruit of a collective process, rather this is an illegal blockage of access with no collective negotiations," said Arauco spokesman Ivan Chamorro.
He said police had been called to remove the subcontractor workers.
Shares in Copec, the most heavily weighted share on the Santiago bourse, were trading 0.95 percent lower at 7,180 pesos in Monday afternoon trade, but Cristina Acle, head of research for the CorpResearch brokerage in Santiago, put the fall down to broader forestry sector weakness. (Reporting by Aaron Nelsen; Editing by Simon Gardner and Christian Wiessner)
