Banjir Ambarita – A strike that has crippled Freeport Indonesia's copper and gold mine in Papua is expected to continue well into its second week after talks between management and workers collapsed, union representatives said on Sunday.

For the last seven days, 8,000 of the 19,500 workers at Freeport's Grasberg mine, the world's biggest gold mine and third-biggest copper mine, have been on strike. They have called for contract renegotiations and have demanded a wage increase from $1.50 to $3 per hour.

They also want the reinstatement of Sudiro, the head of the Freeport chapter of the All-Indonesian Workers Trade Union (SPSI), and five other union members they claim were fired last month for planning the strike.

Freeport Indonesia is the local unit of US-based miner Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold.

According to a statement by the Sudiro camp, the negotiations, which are being mediated by members of the Mimika Regional Representatives Council, soured after Freeport's management refused to talk with Sudiro and other SPSI members considered legitimate by the workers.

"The management has made it appear that the negotiations are being conducted by people who are illegally representing the union," said Obed Lobo, a member of the Sudiro camp. He accused Freeport's management of targeting Sudiro and his supporters, and of trying to have them thrown out of leadership positions at the union.

Obed said that during the talks, which started on Thursday before breaking down on Saturday, management had refused to revoke its sanctions against Sudiro and other SPSI officials.

Septer Manufandu, a human rights activist, said he was concerned that authorities would use the strike as an excuse to tighten their grip on the province by making it appear the workers had a hidden agenda of pushing for Papuan independence.

"We want the military to look at the strike objectively as a dispute between workers and the management, and nothing more," he said. "We know that there are a lot of [political and monetary] motivations to protect Freeport's interests. Don't let the workers fall victim."

Mediation offers have poured in from officials concerned about the impact of the strike. Muhaimin Iskandar, the manpower and transmigration minister, said on Friday that his office was assessing the strike, which began on Monday, and had sent a team to try and find a speedy resolution.

"Our duty is to facilitate negotiations, but Freeport will have to find a solution for its workers," he said. "We urge Freeport to listen to the workers' demands."

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has also sent a team to try and reach a solution.

Freeport spokesman Ramdani Sirait said the strike, which workers claim has brought operations at Grasberg to a halt, was illegal and the company would not give in to the workers' unilateral demands.

"The union must appoint a legitimate leader before starting negotiations on a new two-year joint work cooperation agreement," he said. He added that workers' salaries were in line with average wages last year of about $230 per month in Papua.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said, however, that rising inflation had increased living costs in the remote and mountainous province.

Freeport's Papua mine is already facing a 17 percent decline this year in production of copper because of worsening ore quality, with the strike likely to exacerbate the drop, said Gavin Wendt, an analyst at MineLife.

Freeport has said concentrate shipments have not been affected so far, although it has declined to comment on its operations and production.

Analysts say any force majeure enabling Freeport to halt contract shipments to buyers would depend on the level of stocks the US mining firm maintained at the remote mountain site.