By Gideon Long

SANTIAGO, July 21 (Reuters) - Striking subcontract workers at Chilean copper giant Codelco might resume their protests and blockades next week unless the company meets their demands, the leader of the strike said on Saturday.

"In the coming hours we are not ruling out starting another offensive of protests," said Cristian Cuevas, president of the Confederation of Copper Workers, which represents some of the nearly 30,000 subcontracted workers at Codelco.

However, he said that for now, the confederation was concentrating on talking to Codelco to resolve the dispute.

Codelco is the world's largest copper miner and last year accounted for 11 percent of global production. The 27-day strike has had some impact on output, albeit limited.

Negotiations between the two sides ended without an agreement in the early hours of Saturday. Management and workers' representatives met again on Saturday afternoon.

"At the moment there is no agreement. ... The only points where there's been some progress are on social benefits, on health, education and housing," Cuevas told reporters before heading into the talks.

The subcontract workers have been on strike since June 25 in a bid to get more money from Codelco, which has seen its profits rise thanks to high prices for the metal.

Picketers have blocked roads and stopped buses transporting staff to Codelco mines. Occasionally, the protests have turned violent, with buses set on fire and trucks carrying copper from Codelco mines attacked and wrecked.

The workers halted their protests this week to allow negotiations to restart.

The striking workers are not employed directly by state-owned Codelco but perform tasks like earth clearing, catering, truck driving and cleaning at Codelco mines.

They say they want their salaries brought more into line with the company's unionized staff, who have enjoyed ample pay raises and bonuses as the price of copper has soared.

Speaking to reporters as he entered Saturday's talks, Codelco negotiator Daniel Barria said there were still two "relatively problematic points" to be resolved.

The first is the size of the production bonus that the workers would get under any agreement.

Codelco has offered an annual 325,000 pesos ($634) per employee while the workers are seeking around six times that amount to be introduced gradually.

The second point concerns compensation for salaries lost during the stoppage.

The strikers are demanding to be paid in full for the days they have not worked. The company has refused but says it is prepared to offer them a loan, to be repaid over time.

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