SANTIAGO, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Around 4,000 laborers and contractors began an open-ended strike on Monday, demanding better wages from the Chilean lumber company Bosques Arauco SA.

    Jorge Gonzalez, president of the Chilean Forest Workers Federation, said workers requested a 40-percent wage rise because the company makes two million U.S. dollars a day in profits.

    "Our demands represent three days of profits for the company," he said, adding "they have money to spare."

    The demonstrators also picketed the company's sawmills and processing plants.

    The company, based in the central southern region of Bio Bio, is one of the world's largest lumber company by measure of the land that it exploits. Its sales reached 2.37 billion dollars in 2006.

    The company and strikers had negotiations on March 11, but the two sides remained at odds concerning the wage issue. Workers demanded a 40-percent rise in base salaries, but the company offered only five percent.