Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Santiago de Chile (Agenzia Fides) - The Catholic Bishops from the regions that are home to the country’s largest mining company, and where a conflict has broken out in recent days, have issued a statement entitled, “Paths That Lead to Peace,” in which they show their deep concern for “this new situation of labor conflict and social mobilization with the episodes of violence involving properties and persons” and ask that the road to violence be abandoned in the copper dispute. The declaration has been signed by Bishop Guillermo Vera Soto of Calama; Bishop Gaspar Quintana Jorquera of Copiapó; Bishop Cristián Contreras Molina of San Felipe; and Bishop Alejandro Goic Karmelic of Rancagua and was publicly announced in these Dioceses at 11am.
For a week now, workers from Codelco (the national copper corporation) have been on strike, implying a daily loss of 10 million dollars, according to the Executive President of the company that produces nearly 1.6 million tons of copper every year. The subcontracted workers stopped working this past April 16, demanding that previously drafted work agreements be respected. These agreements had been made in resolution of a 37-day strike that cost the government mining company 100 million dollars. The Bishops of these cities have offered to help in mediation efforts in resolving the conflict between the subcontracted workers and Codelco, as long as there is an end to the violence and the agreements made in August 2007 are respected. In the meantime, company leaders have shown concern for the growth of the workers’ movement in the mine and have asked the government to intervene in order to avoid similar demonstrations in the private mines.
The Bishops reiterate the fact that “violence is never a just response,” as “it is an evil... not intended for man.” “The recent violent events should be rejected by the entire community,” the statement said, “as there is a great majority of workers who do wish to continue working and are unable to do so for fear of injury and even death. There are cities in the North that are practically under siege.”
According to the Bishops, even though they have respectfully listened to both the miners’ labor unions and the upper level executives of Codelco, “it is not easy to discern, in such a complex affair, who is right. So many arguments in favor of and against both sides are heard, without a real and profound knowledge of what is truly at stake.” Thus, the Bishops ask all those involved in the conflict to “open a path to serene and constructive dialogue, in order to resolve their current dilemmas.”
The root problems in the work force in Chile, the Bishops say, “are the great economic and social disparity that exist in the working world and that should be resolved through an establishment of a just hierarchy of values, placing the dignity of the working person at the top of the list.” With that in mind, recalling the words of the Holy Father Benedict XVI, the Bishops say that “in society at present, if we desire peace, it is necessary to choose between the logic of profit as the ultimate criterion for our action, and the logic of sharing and solidarity...when the logic of sharing and solidarity prevails, it is possible to correct the course and direct it to a fair development for the common good of all.” (RG) (Agenzia Fides 23/4/2008; righe 41, parole 562)
