More Trouble for Freeport McMoRan As Indonesian Labor Rejects Latest Layoffs

It appeared Freeport McMoRan Cooper & Gold

had put an end to woes in its Indonesian operations when it

on December 14, 2011 that it had successfully resolved its three-month-long worker strike which had seen its operations stopped at the world's second largest copper mine. The same workers

their return to work on Tuesday (local time) due to what senior union officials considered labor disputes, which concerns proposed lay-offs. Current disagreements between the company and the labor union threaten the company's plans to resume full operations by the beginning of 2012. The three-month standoff that was thought to have been resolved started with an announced strike on September 15 of this year and deteriorated into

clashes between the police and activists which resulted in shootings that killed three individuals. During riots, concentrate and fuel pipelines were severely damaged. Benzinga Pro updated on FCX Indonesia developments in real time. Try them

. The story had been a familiar one. Local workers had appealed to have their wages increased commensurately with the wealth being extracted by the mining and million operations in Indonesia.

of the twelve thousand unionized employees, who were paid from $2.10 to $3.50 per hour began strikes demanding salary increases of up to $300 percent. Eventually, a deal was reached for approximately

pay increase over two years. More importantly, parties had agreed that future wage renegotiation would be based on living costs and wage competitiveness within Indonesia. No word yet on the cost of this latest disruption of work. The strike had cost the company lowered fourth quarter production

to the tune of 115 million pounds of copper and 200,000 ounces of gold. A similar stoppage back in July of 2011 had cost the company an estimated

per day. FCX is currently trading at $38.00 per share, about 0.85 percent down on Friday's close. The stock is some 36 percent down YTD.