Colombian Rail Strike Brings Coal Prices Up

Reuters reported that on Monday workers at Fenoco, Colombia’s main coal railway, will vote on whether to lift a strike that has been going on for 18 days. The strike is pushing up coal prices even though coal is available in the Atlantic and Pacific markets.

As quoted in the market news:

Fenoco President Peter Burrowes told Reuters that workers would assemble in seven locations on Monday to vote on whether to send the dispute to an arbitration committee, which would put laborers back to work as soon as Thursday.

The company needs 51 percent of laborers to vote to lift the strike. More than 200 of a total of 624 workers belong to the union that walked off the job on July 23 after talks over working conditions and pay increases broke down, officials said.

Felix Herrera, president of the Sintraime union, disputed the legality of the Monday vote, saying only the union members, not the company, could lift the walkout.

“First, I don’t think there’ll be 51 percent that vote to lift the strike. Second, as the process is not legal, we would not be obligated to go the arbitration tribunal,” he said.

Click here to read the full Reuters report.