Former mine workers resumed the closure after the dialogue table agreed last Friday was not fruitful.
Less than a week after the blockades that stopped the operations of the Cerrejón mine were lifted, the company reported that there was a new illegal blockade on the railway line.
In context: Blockades are lifted in Cerrejón after agreeing to a dialogue table
According to Cerrejón, the closure is led by former workers who left the company on February 23. The group went to the de facto means to demand their reinstatement to the mine or additional compensation , since they assure that their departure occurred without just cause.
“In the meeting last Friday, within the dialogue held once the blockade was temporarily lifted, they were informed that the reinstatement was not possible and that, if they did not agree with the compensation, the settlements could be reviewed to ensure that they were made. in the right way. In addition, they were offered support to carry out a process of job retraining and entrepreneurship, ”the company explained in a statement.
That day, the Ministry of Mines reported that a dialogue table was created with former mine workers and indigenous people from the Media Luna community, who had obstructed coal operations. The advance of the talks prompted the protesters to suspend the closures.
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Cerrejón insists that those laid off were offered benefits that went beyond what was established by law and that were not accepted by the majority.
Along these lines, he asked the authorities for their immediate intervention in the face of de facto actions “that endanger the job security of more than 9,000 families .”
According to the Ministry of Energy, La Guajira’s coal operations have represented an average of 32% of national production in the last five years.
