Families of Miners Join Bolivia Hunger Strike
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LA PAZ, Bolivia — Wives and children of fired tin miners demanding severance pay joined a hunger strike Wednesday on the eve of Christmas to step up pressure on the government, labor leaders said.
They said the protest, which began on Monday with 500 miners, spread to 1,200 people after the workers’ dismissal from the state Bolivian Mining Corporation.
The state mining corporation, hit by a plunge in the world price of tin, has laid off 20,000 of its 28,000 employees since August.
President Victor Paz Estenssoro refused Tuesday to meet representatives of the strikers, who are demanding new jobs and severance pay of about $1,500, labor leaders said.
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