September 9 (Reuters) – The Panamanian subsidiary of Canadian mining company First Quantum and the company’s union announced on Saturday that they had reached an agreement on the new collective agreement, which meant the suspension of a strike that workers had planned to strike on Saturday.

The Utramipa workers’ union had threatened to stop work on Thursday, citing an impasse in negotiations with Minera Panamá executives, and the company said Friday it was talking with the union about the collective agreement.

“Utramipa has reached an agreement in which we have completed the negotiation processes with the company Minera Panamá, we have met the corresponding deadlines,” union leader Michael Camacho said in a video sent to Reuters on Saturday. “There is no strike,” he later said.

Later, Minera Panamá confirmed that it had reached a consensus with the workers. “This agreement was possible thanks to collaboration, open dialogue and shared commitment to the collective well-being of our employees,” he said in a statement, without giving details.

Cobre Panamá, the company’s mine, is a massive open-pit copper project in the Panamanian jungle and First Quantum’s flagship operation, generating almost half of its profits. It also represents about 4% of the Central American country’s gross domestic product.

Workers said in a statement Thursday that there were disagreements over profit sharing and wage increases, and that the company was offering an incentive instead of benefits, which would not be included in the collective agreement .

“We have successfully obtained all the clauses that were presented in this new project,” added Camacho, who predicted that among the consensuses obtained there is a salary increase whose scope he did not specify, as well as several bonuses and improvements to retirement conditions.

Camacho explained that they will soon provide more details on the agreement reached.

(Reporting by Valentine Hilaire in Mexico City; writing by Raúl Cortés Fernández)