Living in Peru : your everyday companion

(LIP-ir) -- Union workers for Los Quenuales Company, an operating unit of Yauliyacu, blocked the 114th kilometer of Carretera Central Highway last night in the Casapalca area, located in the province of Huarochiri, Lima.

The protest is taking place two days after miners ended a strike on Friday and Peru's police cleared the highway of the rocks and debris protesting miners had placed to stop traffic.

According to listeners that called RPP radio this morning, interprovincial buses and transport vehicles are stranded and unable to get past the blockade that mining workers have established on both sides of the highway.

Miners are demanding that fifteen union leaders be given their jobs back after having been fired when they took part in a strike that took place on November 5. They are also requesting that negotiations begin on a list of demands being made by workers.

Over 1,800 miners have worked for the company for over ten years in deplorable and inhumane conditions, exposing themselves to high temperatures and a toxic environment which continuously cause accidents, said Peru's National Federation of Mining and Metalworkers.

Of the all the miners that work for Los Quenuales mining company, 1,800 are hired by contractors while only 250 are on the company's payroll, reported Peru's Labor Ministry.