PHOENIX (Reuters) - Strikers at bankrupt U.S. copper miner Asarco voted to accept an agreement with the subsidiary of Grupo Mexico and pending bankruptcy court approval should be back at work on Tuesday, a top union leader said on Sunday.þþTop union negotiator Manny Armenta told Reuters that a final tally showed on Sunday that workers had voted overwhelmingly to end the four-month strike.þþ``The vote speaks for itself,'' he said. ``I believe our membership was very satisfied with the agreement.''þþAsarco came to a tentative agreement with some 1,500 workers at its Arizona and Texas facilities to end the four-month strike earlier this week.þþUnion representatives had to put the vote to strikers and a bankruptcy judge must approve a return to work.þþThe judge is expected to give approval on Monday, after which Armenta said workers will lift picket lines. He said the workers were committed to getting back to their jobs.þþThe workers struck after Asarco, crippled by environmental cleanup and asbestos claims, tried to cut health and pension benefits even while world copper prices were up sharply.þþIt filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August, and workers had demanded that any potential buyer for the company be forced to negotiate with them.þþ``It was worth every minute,'' Armenta said of the strike. ``I think it sends a very strong message that unions are alive and well in the copper industry.''þþAsarco's parent company, copper giant Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX), has ramped up output at its Latin American mines to try to minimize the impact of the strike, which has rattled copper markets over the past four months.þþ
Source: NY Times
