Workers at Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Inc's mine in Indonesia will gradually return to work this week to end a three-month strike that has crippled output and exports from the world's second-biggest copper mine, union officials said on Sunday.
Some workers have started a traditional stone burning ritual and removed a road blockage that kept other workers from accessing the Grasberg mine in the central highlands of Papua island in eastern Indonesia, Juli Parorrongan, union spokesman told Reuters via telephone on Sunday.
The union had planned to mobilise workers to return to the mine on Saturday. But some of them are celebrating Christmas with their families in Papua, which is predominantly Christian. Many workers at the Grasberg mine are Papuans.
"Muslim workers will start fixing the road today, but we think they cannot finish everything today to start mobilisation," Parorrongan said, adding that it would take seven days for workers to fully return. The road blockade included a big tent inhabited by workers and several heavy vehicles.
The strike, which shook labour relations in Southeast Asia's largest economy, is the longest in recent Indonesian history and represents the first major attempt by workers to reap greater financial rewards in one of the world's hottest emerging markets.
In mid-December, workers reached a deal including a 37 percent pay rise over two years and extra benefits. Hengki Binur, a field co-ordinator of the union, said that up to 250 workers were expected to return to the mine as soon as Monday. "We are concentrating on fixing the roads, dismantling tents, removing heavy equipment today. I think the process of mobilisation of workers will start tomorrow morning with only about two to four buses going up," Binur said.
Freeport has said shipments of concentrate are expected to be limited until full operations are restored in early 2012.
The strike at Grasberg mine harmed Freeport's total production and led the firm to declare force majeure on exports in October and helped lifting global copper prices.