Selig: Owners On ‘Constructive Path’ With Union

 

Bud Selig is optimistic baseball will be able to avoid its first labor stoppage since the infamous 1994 strike.

PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz.  — Major League Baseball and its players’ union will begin contract talks soon with none of the rancor and lockout threats that are plaguing the NFL and NBA.

“We’re on a constructive path,” Commissioner Bud Selig said.

Selig offered a rosy picture of the economics of the coming seasons on Thursday and praised the solid relationship that his staff has formed with the union.

The two-day gathering, described by Selig as “a non-controversial meeting,” wrapped up at a quiet Phoenix-area resort on Thursday with a meeting of the special committee formed a year ago to come up with on-field changes for the game.

First on the agenda, Selig said, were three umpires to address the idea of expanding instant replay. The commissioner indicated he would like to proceed cautiously.

“In spite of the fact we’ve had 18 years of more change than ever before in the history of baseball,” he said, “I’m still very cautious. Baseball is different. The pace of the game is very important.”

More work needs to be done, Selig said, on the idea of expanding the playoffs by adding another wild-card team in each league.

“I feel good about it,” he said. “`I think there’s a lot of interest but we have some detail to work out. That’s really the crucial question.”

Any changes to the use of replays or the addition of the wild-card playoff teams will not be implemented until 2012, at the earliest.

During his speach to the owners, Selig warned the clubs about overspending. The current labor contract expires in December.

Selig said that, looking back, “there was no reason for optimism” in the 2002 contract talks, which ended with an agreement just hours before players were to strike, but “it was a miracle right at the end.”

In 2006, the sides announced an agreement before Game 3 of the World Series, nearly two months before the labor contract was set to expire.

Selig wouldn’t predict that smooth a process this time, but he did note the tone of the negotiations had changed for the better.

“The one thing that is so really shockingly different in some ways is that back in the ’702, ’80s, even starting in the late ’60s, there was all the anger expressed,” Selig said. “Owners mad at owners, owners mad at the union, everybody mad at the commissioner, whoever that was at the time. You don’t see or hear any of that the last five to 10 years.”

The day began with a startling development when Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, senior vice president for baseball operations in the commissioner’s office, experienced dizziness and a rapid heartbeat and was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. Selig said Robinson was doing well and that tests for any severe problems were negative.

US Auto Union In Talks With German Car makers: UAW

 

UAW president Bob King is pictured in 2010. The United Auto Workers union said Wednesday it was in preliminary discussions with two German automakers as it seeks to rebuild its rolls by unionizing the US factories of foreign "transplants.

DETROIT – The United Auto Workers Union said Wednesday it was in preliminary discussions with two German automakers as it seeks to rebuild its rolls by unionizing the US factories of foreign “transplants.”

The two unnamed carmakers have indicated they might consider honoring the union’s demand for neutrality as it tries to recruit new members at their plants, UAW president Bob King said.

“We’ve had discussions with German automakers. But we have promised to keep the discussions confidential,” King said after a speech at the Automotive News World Congress, held concurrently with the North American International Auto Show.

In the speech, King outlined the neutrality request the UAW has presented to German, Japanese and South Korean companies building cars inside the United States and Canada.

The union wants companies like Toyota, Honda, Hyundai-Kia, Nissan, BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz to remain neutral during the its organizing efforts.

“They can’t threaten to close plants,” he said. “They can’t tell lies about us or tell people the union will make their plants uncompetitive,” King said.

“We have to convince them we’re not the evil empire,” he added. “We’re not looking for a confrontation.”

King said the UAW has been as essential part of the rebuilding Ford Motor Co.‘s image and has actively participated in Chrysler’s turnaround over the past year.

“Working with us is a smart business decision,” he said.

He said that the labor relations staffs at the foreign plants are larger than those at Ford.

“They could save themselves millions of dollars,” he said.

But he warned that the foreign carmakers who don’t accept the UAW’s organizing terms will face a bruising campaign.

He said the union is prepared to use “all of its resources” and bring its allies into the fight.

“I don’t want to use the word boycott,” he said.

“But I don’t think any company wants to be accused of violating human rights…. I don’t think they want to be accused of treating their American workers as second-class citizens.”

Once extremely powerful at the Big Three US carmakers, the UAW has been weakened by years of layoffs, the economic crisis and the relocation of car plants to union-unfriendly areas.

Now the union is trying to rebuild its ranks and influence via the foreign transplants.

The last time it tried to organize a transplant factory was in 2001 at the Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tennessee.

The union was voted down shortly after Nissan chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn threatened to close the plant if the workers unionized.

King said pay at union and non-union auto plants is essentially equal, running between $25 to $28 per hour for long-term employees.

But the laborers at the foreign firms are about 25 percent temporary workers, who are paid half as much as permanent workers and get few or no benefits, according to King.

King also defended the UAW’s efforts encouraging Fiat to move jobs from Italy to the United States.

“I hope (Fiat-and the Italian unions) can find a way to work together,” he said.

What The New Congress Means For Working Families

 

Earlier this month, Congress passed a deal to re-extend unemployment insurance for the long-term unemployed for more than a year.  Finally, a small break for working families! With money from unemployment insurance, millions of non-working Americans will be able to heat their homes, pay their bills, and buy food.  It’s not much, but it’s everything.

Throughout 2010, JwJ has been educating communities on how unemployment insurance is a vital stop-gap measure during the worst jobs deficit in recent history.  It’s been an ongoing fight.  Through organizing hundreds of public actions, delegations to elected officials, community forums, and online action alerts, we helped working communities save their lifeline multiple times.

The extension of unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed didn’t come without a big favor for big business.  What was exchanged in return for this small token for working families?  Billions of dollars in tax breaks for the country’s wealthiest–money that could be used to create jobs or cover unemployment insurance for the jobless.  Instead, it will sit in someone’s growing bank account, while workers continue to struggle.

A sustainable economy can’t be built on the financial troubles of workers.

In 2010, anti-worker/pro-corporate forces in Congress threatened filibuster on even the most modest worker assistance.  On Monday, the good fight for working people will get EVEN TOUGHER when the new Congress is sworn in on January 3.

As even more anti-worker politicians come to Washington, DC and statehouses across the country, JwJ will continue to be there to support workers.

In 2011, Jobs with Justice will:

• Continue building community support for organizing and collective bargaining campaigns across the country, benefitting tens of thousands of workers
• Mobilize in states to oppose anti-worker policies, like Right-to-Work (for less!) legislation
• Build community support to preserve public services, like mass transit
• Continue building relationships with allies and organizations to create a worker-centered economy – we have the power of the people!
• Organize public hearings, national days of action, op-eds, and public actions to further all of this work

Poll: More Manufacturing Can Stop Economic Slide

Only one in five Americans say the U.S. economy is the world’s strongest.

 

 In the global economic race, the United States is coming in second—and one of the major reasons is that we have stopped making things in this country. A recent poll shows the public thinks it’s going to be that way for awhile. Only one in five Americans say the U.S. economy is the world’s strongest. Nearly half (47 percent) say China’s economy is stronger and only one in three expects the United States to regain the top spot in the next 20 years. Nearly three-fifths of those surveyed say that increasing competition from lower-paid workers around the world will keep living standards for average Americans from growing as fast as they did in the past. 

The poll, conducted for Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor,  found that behind the public’s concerns are the related issues of the global economy and the loss of manufacturing jobs. Nearly 60 percent say the nation cannot continue to lose manufacturing jobs. 

The uneasiness over the global economy is reflected in responses to the question of whether free trade has been good or bad for the United States. Only college educated whites, people ages 18 to 29 and folks making more than $75,000 think free trade has been good for the nation. Everybody else across racial, economic and education lines are clear that it has not helped.

The main reason people cite for the lack of faith in free trade is that it encourages employers to ship jobs overseas. When asked why manufacturing has declined, 58 percent of respondents say U.S. manufacturers have shifted jobs overseas to take advantage of cheap labor to achieve higher profits.

Matt Hemmis, sales director for a resort company in Orlando, Fla., summed up the situation this way in a follow-up interview:

We have become a service nation instead of a working nation. The only thing we have that spreads around the world is our music and our culture. But can we survive as a nation of culture? We have no mass production in our country. You can barely find cars or clothes made in this country anymore.

Ruben Owen, a retired Boeing engineer in Seattle, adds:

We’ve become more of a service economy. We send things out here and there [to be produced] and never understand how to manufacture the whole product; we just assemble it. In the long run, that’s not good for our business health.

The poll was conducted for Heartland by Ed Reilly and Brent McGoldrick of FD, a communications strategy consulting firm. They surveyed 1,200 adults from Nov. 29 through Dec.

In many ways, the Heartland poll reaffirms the conclusions from another poll this summer by Mark Mellman and Whit Ayers in which 86 percent of the respondents say they back increased government support for manufacturing. A whopping 95 percent believe Congress and the president should spend more time creating jobs, and 85 percent believe they should focus on creating manufacturing jobs.

Summary Of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules For Radicals”

 

Saul Alinsky’s “Rules For Radicals” explained

Union organizers are often highly trained. In many unions this training includes indoctrination in Saul Alinsky‘s “Rules for Radicals.”

Saul Alinsky was a ruthless radical organizer. He would stop at nothing to win. Before he passed away in 1972 he published a book called “Rules for Radicals” in which he outlined his power tactics and questionable ethics.

Anyone interested in staying, or becoming, Union Free, whether in an organizing campaign or in a decertification or deauthorization election, ought to become familiar with these rules.

This can be very valuable information. As one expert observer points out “Rules for Radicals are reversible and can be used against the Left.”

Here’s a brief summary of the rules. We are indebted to the Public Service Research Foundation for this information.

Rules for Power Tactics:

1. Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.
2. Never go outside the experience of your people.
3. Whenever possible, go outside of the experience of the enemy.
4. Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.
5. Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.
6. A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.
7. A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.
8. Keep the pressure on with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose.
9. The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
10. The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.
11. If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counterside.
12. The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.
13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

Because Alinsky was sensitive to criticism that he wasn’t ethical, he also included a set of rules for the ethics of power tactics. You can see from these why his ethics were so frequently questioned.

Rules to test whether power tactics are ethical:

1. One’s concern with the ethics of means and ends varies inversely with one’s personal interest in the issue.
2. The judgment of the ethics of means is dependent upon the political position of those sitting in judgment.
3. In war the end justifies almost any means.
4. Judgment must be made in the context of the times in which the action occurred and not from any other chronological vantage point.
5. Concern with ethics increases with the number of means available and vice versa.
6. The less important the end to be desired, the more one can afford to engage in ethical evaluations of means.
7. Generally, success or failure is a mighty determinant of ethics.
8. The morality of means depends upon whether the means is being employed at a time of imminent defeat or imminent victory.
9. Any effective means is automatically judged by the opposition to be unethical.
10. You do what you can with what you have and clothe it in moral garments.
11. Goals must be phrased in general terms like “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,” “Of the Common Welfare,” “Pursuit of Happiness,” or “Bread and Peace.”

These are just the highlights. There’s obviously a lot more to it. Alinsky’s book is still available in most college bookstores and on Amazon and is worth reading.

Bad Teachers Are Too Hard To Fire

MIDDLE ISLAND, N.Y. — Few people know better than school superintendent Allan Gerstenlauer that disciplining a tenured teacher can be a long and expensive process.

An English teacher in his Long Island district remains on the payroll, earning an annual salary of $113,559, even after pleading guilty earlier this month to drunken driving charges — her fifth DWI arrest in seven years.

The teacher will remain on paid leave at least until a disciplinary hearing in August, and it will be up to an impartial arbitrator to decide whether she needs to be fired as she faces a likely prison sentence.

“It is very frustrating that the process takes so long,” Gerstenlauer conceded.

Tenure reform?

The case illustrates a nagging problem in school districts in New York and elsewhere around the country: firing bad teachers. It is also part of the ongoing debate over education reform and the role tenure plays in the process.

Advocates for reform cite a list of egregious examples they say demonstrate why teacher tenure rules need to be overhauled.

In New York City, it often costs taxpayers $250,000 just to fire one incompetent teacher. Some teachers remain on the payroll even after being convicted of serious felonies, requiring districts to hold disciplinary hearings behind prison walls.

“Protecting jobs of adults without regard to how well their students perform almost certainly will lead to greater costs, stagnant academic achievement, and greater dysfunction of our public education system,” says tenure foe B. Jason Brooks of the Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability.

Richard Iannuzzi, president of New York State United Teachers, counters: “Tenure provides the right to due process. It is consistent with the American way; a person is innocent until proven guilty.”

The issue has been gaining attention in New York.

New York legislators and Gov. David Paterson agreed this month on a bill that will automatically revoke the certification of teachers convicted of sex crimes against students. The law would end what is now often a yearlong administrative process to revoke the licenses of teachers and other school employees convicted of sex crimes against students.

And earlier this year, the Center for Union Facts launched a $1 million ad campaign featuring a billboard in Times Square, offering $10,000 to what it considers the 10 worst teachers in the country to quit their careers. The group claims unions back policies that protect all but the worst teachers.

“Paying teachers and school administrators based on how well they do their job rather than how long they’ve had their job makes sense,” said Brooks.

Laws vary by state

Because tenure laws are different in every state, comparisons on the time and expense involved in disciplining or firing teachers are difficult. In New York state, the process can take six to 18 months and can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars, including the teachers’ pay and fees for lawyers, stenographers and arbitrators.

In New York City, the cost to fire one incompetent tenured teacher is about $250,000, said Education Department spokeswoman Melody Meyer. She said that of 55,000 teachers on staff, 10 were fired last year.

“The chancellor would prefer that teachers be taken off the payroll while going through arbitration,” Meyer said. “If the decision is in favor of the teacher, that money would be paid back with interest.”

Dave Albert, a spokesman for the New York State School Boards Association, said that from 1995 to 2005 there were 633 disciplinary hearings statewide, 60 percent of them in New York City. Of the 633 cases, 184 resulted in termination and 234 teachers were placed on unpaid suspension.

The Washington-based Center for Union Facts says that from 1995 to 2005, 112 Los Angeles tenured teachers faced termination — 11 per year — out of 43,000. It also said 47 New Jersey teachers out of 100,000 were fired in a 10-year period.

Tenure considered milestone

New York teachers are granted tenure after three years. Before it is granted, Iannuzzi says, teachers undergo a constant series of reviews. “The reality is that during that process, all the cards are in the hands of the school district,” he said. “When a teacher receives tenure, it is a real milestone. It is recognition that the person is qualified to be there.”

Iannuzzi contends teachers should not bear all the blame. “Often the time and cost is the result of an excessive charge, or that the charges are baseless,” he said. “It still takes a long time to weed through the case to learn this.”

Gerstenlauer, the Longwood school superintendent, declined to discuss specifics in the case of the teacher with the drunken driving arrest, citing personnel confidentiality issues.

He said part of the reason for the drawn-out process is staff cuts in the state education department. Department representatives did not respond to calls seeking comment.

“I’m not looking to shortchange anybody’s due process. I’m looking at a system that would allow us to move through at a reasonable pace, that would allow the district to move forward and the employee to move forward,” the superintendent said.

Editorial: Do We Need Labor Unions in America?

 

  

DETROIT, MICHIGAN (RLUO) -  I can only answer this question from my own perspective and my own experience as an American worker.  With our economy reaching enormous levels of prosperity why would anyone want or need a labor union?  Simply, because as long as power, greed, and tyranny dwell in the hearts of humankind, there will always be a need to protect the many from just such a few.

 L

abor Deserves RespectDo American business people have a right to run their own companies as they see fit?  Absolutely.  But when employers begin to circumvent the laws of this country, when they take upon themselves the license to abuse American workers out of arrogance and power induced self-centered behavior then democracy mandates, no, it screams out it’s canon that humanity alone deserves respect.  The human at the end of that mop or broom or bedpan celebrates his or her dignity by being there.  By sharing in the work.  By helping American businesses to flourish.  By being willing partners in this wonderful grand experiment we Americans call capitalism. And wonderful it is!

American Labor’s Rich Spirit

We live not simply in a rich society, but a society full of riches.  Riches like the American spirit, a spirit that has always been about more than just money. It’s about caring enough to do our best even when no one’s looking.  A spirit that courageously empowers the American single Mom to grab a picket sign and say to her employer,  “No, you are not going to do this to me anymore.”  How wonderful this American labor spirit is that it will never allow itself to be slapped with the abuses of a dysfunctional, abusive work environment.  Joined together, these American workers stand tall, stand powerful, stand together with grace and the dignity that self-worth brings.  Only through the commonality of such injurious experiences can the mustard seed of faith sprout so tremendously.

Labor Unions Bring Dignity and Respect

American labor unions are the breakers by which we steadfastly hold back the tide of the frailty of humankind.  Some business people are twisted by power, by arrogance, by greed that distorts their view.  Character defects that cause individuals to lose sight of that precious gift we call humanity.  To be.  To exist.  To cherish existence in ourselves but maybe even more importantly, respecting it in others.

In a Florida warehouse where the temperatures reached over 100 degrees, we asked our employer for a water fountain.  We received an igloo container filled with warm, tepid water that neither cooled nor refreshed from the heat.  I would not treat someone that way, would you?  This same employer arrogantly bragged that he was having our work done in Malaysia and paying those workers $5.00…a day.  Was this showing humanity respect?

In Virginia, where a courageous Nurse Practitioner of 25 years became so incensed at the disrespect and lack of dignity by administrators towards Professional Registered Nurses, that she decided to devote her remaining years to guiding Nurses into the safe harbor of Unions. And yet these administrators continue to fight against the right of Nurses to join unions. Is this democracy in America?

In a Michigan Nursing Home where Nursing Assistants and Resident Care Aids care so much about their patients, yet their employer disrespects that care and dedication with excessive work loads, decreased staffing, less pay and decreased benefits. Can we honestly as a nation condone such abusive treatment of health care workers and patients?

In a Midwest office building where a widow with a young son, another a mother of eight children, dust and mop and clean, earning barely livable wages with no employer provided health insurance, paid holidays, or other benefits. And when that employer is asked about a raise, these extraordinary, gifted, precious souls are simply laughed at in their faces.  Is this respect of the American worker?  This same employer takes the position that if these workers don’t like it, they can get out.  But why should labor leave?  It is management that’s failing.

Yes, we need unions.  As long as there are employers who maybe are just born that way:  unable to perceive or understand this extraordinary gift we call humanity.

Labor Unions Embrace Democracy

Until then, in this wonderful America which nourishes and embraces democracy, the American worker must join with each other to herald that freedom from the bondage of tyranny in any form:  whether from distant shores, from home-grown exploiters of the poor, from dysfunctional management personalities who gain workplace power.

Yes.  For these Moms’.  For their children.  For the generations that come after them.   Labor unions must be.

Unions Slow To Opt-Out of ObamaCare

  

For a law that was supposed to save America by making health care more affordable, the list of companies and unions who are being given the green light to ‘opt out’ seems to be growing by the day.

Since the last wave of ObamaCare waivers was released a few weeks ago, the number of unions and companies that have received ObamaCare waivers has doubled to 222. The number of known unions that inhabit this list is near 50.

So far, here is the list of union inductees to the Do As We Say, Not As We Do Club:

 
1. Bricklayers Local 1 of MD, VA and DC
2. International Brotherhood of Trade Unions Health and Welfare Fund – Local 713
3. Local 1102 Amalgamated Welfare Fund
4. Local 1102 Health & Benefit Fund
5. Local 1102 Welfare Fund– Lerner Employees
6. Local 338 Affiliated Benefit Funds
7. Operating Engineers Local 835 Health and Welfare Fund
8. Retail, Wholesale & Dept. Store Union Local 1034 Welfare Fund
9. United Food and Commercial Workers Union in Mount Laurel, New Jersey
10. Indiana Teamsters Health Benefits Fund
11. Service Employees International Union Local 1 Cleveland Welfare Fund
12. Southern CA Pipe Trades Trust Fund
13. Teamsters Local 522 Welfare Fund Roofers Division
14. Texas Carpenters and Millwrights Health and Welfare Fund
15. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1445 New Hampshire
16. Amalgamated National Health Fund
17. Plumbers and Pipefitters Local No. 630 Welfare Fund
18. United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1000
19. 1199SEIU Greater New York Benefit Fund
20. Cleveland Bakers Teamsters
21. DC Cement Masons Welfare Fund
22. Indiana Teamsters Health Benefits Fund
23. Laundry and Dry Cleaning Workers Local No. 52
24. Social Service Employees Union Local 371
25. United Food and Commercial Workers Union (Mount Laurel, NJ)
26. United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1459
27. United Food and Commercial Workers and Participating Employers Interstate Health and Welfare Fund
28. Laborers’ International Union of North America Local Union No. 616 Health and Welfare Plan
29. Service Employees Benefit Fund
30. UFCW Allied Trade Health & Welfare Trust
31. United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1995
32. IBEW No.915
33. Asbestos Workers Local 53 Welfare Fund
34. Florida Trowel Trades
35. Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 123 Welfare Fund
36. UFCW Local 227
37. UFCW Maximus Local 455
38. Local 25 SEIU
39. UFCW Local 1262
40. Local 802 Musicians Health Fund
41. Greater Metropolitan Hotel
42. Local 17 Hospitality Benefit Fund
43. GS-ILA
44. Health and Welfare Benefit System
45. I.U.P.A.T.
46. Transport Workers
47. UFT Welfare Fund
48. PMPS-ILA
49. PS-ILA 

Jobless Workers Take Unemployment Insurance Fight To Capitol Hill

 

Capital Hill

On the same day that 800,000 workers lost their unemployment insurance, over 300 jobless workers from across the nation descended on Washington, DC to fight for an emergency extension. At a press conference in the U.S. Capitol Building, jobless workers stood side by side with working family champions in Congress and the Obama Administration to tell the stories of their struggles. Participants included Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, Senator Tom Harkin, Representative George Miller, Representative Jim McDermott, and Representative Sander Levin.

Anthony Roebuck, a married father from Denver, Colorado, described his situation saying, “It’s been tough being without a job for this long and having only my unemployment benefits to support my family.” Laid off in April, Anthony went on to say, “No one wants to be on unemployment – I know I speak for everyone here in saying that we’d all rather be back at work right now. But the jobs just aren’t there. In the meantime unemployment is a lifeline for me.”

Edrie Irvine, a mother and grandmother from Maryland who had worked for over 40 years before losing her job in October of 2009 described unemployment as, “Basic survival – putting food on the table, keeping the house warm at night, making sure there is house,” and cried out “Congress, you must listen.”

Russ Meyer, a father, college graduate, and marketing copywriter from Portland, Oregon was unemployed for 20 months before finding another job, only to be laid off again 3 months ago. He and his family have had to sell their home as they struggle to figure out what’s next. “Unless you’ve been in our shoes, you can’t imagine the despair we feel knowing that we’ve reached the end of the line despite our best efforts,” he said. “We’ve learned you can do a hell of a lot with a little. Now is not the time to take that help away from us.”

Congress has never before let unemployment benefits expire when this many people have been out of work.  There are five job seekers for every job opening, and the percentage of people unemployed for longer than six months is the highest on record.

Following the press conference, workers set out to lobby their members of Congress. The participants were armed with more than 150,000 petition signatures calling on Congress to maintain unemployment insurance. The petition signatures, gathered by the efforts of the AFL-CIO, Working America, NELP, US Action, MomsRising, and Color of Change, supported their call for an immediate, one-year UI extension that would prevent 2 million jobless workers from losing their lifeline by the end of this year.

Chile’s Collahuasi Prepares Strike Deal With Union

Wed Dec 1, 2010 10:00pm EST

 * Workers, management head toward deal to 28-day strike

 * Talks set to continue Thursday morning

 * Strike the longest in Chilean private copper mining

At least 220 full-time workers broke from the strike at Collahuasi

IQUIQUE/SANTIAGO, Dec 2 – Union leaders and management at Chile’s Collahuasi copper mine prepared to reach an agreement on Thursday to end the longest strike at a major private Chilean copper mine.

 Two sources familiar with the negotiations said the sides were close to a wage agreement on Wednesday despite tensions earlier in the day sparked by a worker protest.

 ”There’s light at the end of the tunnel,” said one of the sources, adding that a deal could be reached on Thursday, the 28th day of the strike. The sources asked not to be identified because they are not allowed to speak publicly about talks.

 Workers, camping at an abandoned school in the northern city of Iquique, applauded an update from their union leaders. Details of what they were presented were not available.

 Both labor and management have appeared keen on a deal to end the strike, which is now longer than a nearly four-week 2006 stoppage at Escondida, the world’s top copper mine.

The advances came after tensions flared at the negotiating table following a brief clash on Wednesday between police and workers demanding local authorities force strike defectors back onto the picket line.

 Collahuasi has operated with limited production losses thanks to a contingency plan. The operator said its output was at normal levels, a day after saying operations were normalizing satisfactorily.

 At least 220 full-time workers broke from the strike at Collahuasi, which extracts 3.3 percent of global mined copper, or 535,000 tones a year. It has hired hundreds of temporary workers and around 100 new, permanent employees.

 The mine, owned by Xstrata (XTA.L) and Anglo American (AAL.L), had by last week probably suffered minimal losses of about 6,000 tones, or about 1 percent of annual output, traders say.

 Copper prices CMCU3 have shown little sensitivity to the strike or resumed talks, partly because the operator has kept supplies flowing and other factors such as the euro zone debt crisis have taken precedence.