Brussels, 9 May 2007. The ITUC has condemned as unacceptable the death of Rodrigo Alexis Cisternas, a 26-year-old subcontractor taking part in a strike in Concepcion, Chile, on the evening of 3 May 2007. He died from three gunshot wounds after shots were fired by police outside the Bosques Arauco SA plant in Los Horcones.

Tensions flared following Bosques Arauco’s refusal to move forward with negotiations on wage adjustments which the company’s 5,000 workers have been negotiating since late March. Workers blocked the road as the governor or Arauco, Álvaro Rivas Rivero, announced that negotiations had failed. Police used unprecedented violence to suppress the protesters and the ITUC has strongly condemned the excessive force used to intimidate and disperse the strikers.

Millions of subcontractors working for large companies are in an extremely precarious position; their wages are so low that the majority of them find it next to impossible to make ends meet. On 5 May 2007, Chile’s Central Workers’ Union (CUT) organised a protest in Santiago to highlight their predicament.

In a letter sent on 9 May 2007 to the president of Chile (Spanish), the ITUC, at the request of Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), urged the Chilean authorities to launch a thorough investigation into the death as a matter of urgency and to arrest and try those responsible. It also called upon the president to intervene in the conflict at once to bring Bosques Arauco back to the negotiating table and to ensure that negotiations are concluded peacefully and the wage increase implemented for all workers (both Arauco’s own and subcontractors).

Founded on 1 November 2006, the ITUC represents 168 million workers in 153 countries and territories; it has 304 national affiliates.

For further information, please contact the ITUC Press Department by telephone on +32 2 224 0204 or +32 476 621 018.