CHILEAN COPPER WORKERS ELECT LEFT-WING LEADERS
Chilean left-wing leaders were
elected by the copper workers union for the first time since
the left-wing government of Salvador Allende was overthrown in
a 1973 coup.
     Nicanor Araya, a member of the Popular Democratic Movement
(MDP), was named president of the Chilean Confederation of
Copperworkers (CTC), which groups 22,000 workers employed in
the state-owned copper mines, union officials said.
    Other members of the MDP, which includes the communist
party and a faction of the socialist party, took five of the
principal positions on the union's directorate.
    The state-owned copper company of Chile (CODELCO) produces
around 90 pct of the country's copper output of some one mln
tonnes per year. Chile is the world's leading copper exporter
and sales account for just under 50 pct of its export income.
    The MDP won six out of the 14 places on the union's
directorate in elections earlier this month, with the christian
democratic party holding five and the remainder being won by
independents.
    But the left-wing was left in control of the union after
the christian democrats and independents failed to reach
agreement on a joint candidate for the presidency and withdrew
from negotiations.
    Union elections were called following the resignation of
former president Rodolfo Seguel last October.
    Seguel, a christian democrat and Chile's best-known union
leader, said he was forced to step down after repeated court
actions brought by CODELCO prevented the union from operating.
    The labour leader, who now heads the inter-union national
workers command (CNT), was among 500 workers sacked by CODELCO
following a strike in 1983.
    The strike, the only copper industry stoppage staged in the
past 13 years, marked the start of a wave of protests against
the military rule of President Augusto Pinochet.
     CODELCO argued that Seguel could not continue as union
leader when no longer employed by the company.
 Reuter
