More than 2,500 of the 5,000 direct employees voted to cease the strike earlier this month, but, according to Drummond officials, Edgar Munoz, vice president of Sintramienergetica, the main union, said representatives were standing firm. On Friday, September 13, Colombia’s Labor Ministry said it was sending the case to an arbitration tribunal after the majority of the company’s employees voted to resolve the dispute that way.
In all, the slashed national coal output by some 30%, a drag on economic growth in the largest mining sector for Latin America’s fifth-biggest economy ahead of one of the world’s major mineral commodity expansions. Still, analysts said the strike will have little impact on global supplies.
