(MENAFN- Newsroom Panama)
Some four thousand project workers of Cobre Panamá who agreed to leave by mutual agreement were called to the Megapolis convention center in Panama City on Saturday, December 16.
This aims to proceed with the voluntary departure of these people from the company after the Supreme Court declared the contract between First Quantum Minerals and the Panamanian State unconstitutional. which makes the operations of the mine in Donoso, Colón impossible.
Many of the workers arrived at the convention center as early as 4:00 a.m. in the late afternoon, and long lines of workers were still seen trying to complete the termination of the company's employment.
The Ministry of Labor and Labor Development (Mitradel) sent 22 officials to supervise and advise the workers who are being let go by the company.
“Everything required by Panamanian law regarding employment and causal contracts will be complied with; all benefits will be paid,” stated José Castillo, risk prevention engineer and Industrial Safety Superintendent at Cobre Panamá.
Castillo mentioned that there are workers from Colón, Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí, and Panama Oeste, in different branches such as engineering, operations, port operations, power plant, process plant, camps, cooking, cleaning, among others.
The representative of the Cobre Panamá company said that a group of people have closed the San Juanito road, after La Pintada, and "they cannot access it to bring some equipment to treat the water."
“We have been unemployed since the unconstitutionality came out, but we must bring in some equipment for the water management area. A mine cannot be turned off overnight, and that worries me because the security of the country is put at risk,” he added.
On December 4, Mitradel rejected, in the first instance, the request made by the company Minera Panamá to suspend approximately 7 thousand labor contracts.
At that time, the head of Labor, Doris Zapata, explained that they rejected the request because there is a cessation of mine operations that is not temporary, but definitive.“Obviously this results in the termination of employment of each of the workers,” she stated. The decision was appealed by legal representatives of the company.
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