Strike by workers at radio telescope may be a world first

New Scientist : On 22 August, nearly 200 workers went on strike at the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), a radio interferometry telescope in Chile. The strike follows a breakdown in negotiations between the workers’ union and Associated Universities Inc, which manages the telescope. Because the telescope is located at an altitude of 5000 m on a desert plateau, workers there have to deal with chapped skin, altitude sickness, and low temperatures. The site is also several hours away from the nearest city. To compensate for the difficult working conditions, the workers are requesting a 15% pay raise, as well as additional benefits for working at the highest altitudes. During the strike, ALMA will not be taking any new observations. However, the scientific staff—many of whom do not work on site—will continue to analyze already collected data.