MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Petrobras union announces an 'open-end' strike to protest investment cuts
The union is against any sale of Petrobras assets and would like to see the company to be 100% owned by Brazil's government. 
Petrobras currently owns about 83% of all Brazilian oil production of about 3 million barrels of oil and equivalent natural gas a day. 
The strike will affect all operational and administrative units of Petrobras including the fuel and oil import and export terminals of Transpetro Brazil's largest oil workers' union advised Petrobras that it plans to begin an open-ended strike against the state-run oil company starting at midnight (0300 GMT) on Friday. The strike is in protest at a recent cut of about 40% in investments by Petrobras and the planned sale of about $15.1 billion of assets, the union, known as FUP, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The cut in the company's five-year investment plan to $130 billion from $221 billion comes in the wake of a plunge in oil prices and a corruption scandal that forced the company to write down about $17 billion of assets in 2014. FUP did not mention any specific salary or work-condition demands.
The union is against any sale of Petrobras assets and would like to see the company, currently owned by both government and non-government investors, to be 100% owned by Brazil's government. The union also opposes any non-Petrobras involvement in Brazilian oil exploration and production.
Petrobras currently owns about 83% of all Brazilian oil production of about 3 million barrels of oil and equivalent natural gas a day.
The strike will affect all operational and administrative units of Petrobras including the fuel and oil import and export terminals of Transpetro, the company's shipping and gas pipeline unit.
Petrobras on Tuesday said in a statement that it had been informed of the planned strike and has scheduled a meeting for Thursday to discuss the renewal of the union contract.
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Read all comments“Petrobras on Tuesday said in a statement that it had been informed of the planned strike and has scheduled a meeting for Thursday to discuss the renewal of the union contract.”
Sep 02nd, 2015 - 12:39 pm 0Great! Don't renew the contracts (effectively sack them) of these deadheaded commie bastards until they return to work and agree to more reasonable terms of employment.
Don't they know about the corruption that their Party has carried out over the years? Perhaps they should go and ask The Chief Crook Lula to cough up a few of his millions to help out.
Petrobras will eat itself.
Sep 02nd, 2015 - 08:07 pm 0Hopefully the PT will go down with it. They are intertwined to the 'nth degree, from previous union links to corruption at the top. Not to mention the insidious nepotism twixt the two.
Are those at the bottom beginning to realise that their idols have feet of clay?
This strike will harm PB even further. To all effects it's virtually broke ; with a market value of about US$ 45 billion - a fraction of what it was in 2005, before the PT started screwing around with it - its current debt is R$ 351 billion (roughly US$ 100 billion), selling off assets, and presuming that the debt, if it doesn't get any bigger, will compromise the profits of only the next 20 years, the future does not look too rosy. And the strikers want the company 100% in government hands ? the shortest path to bankruptcy, unless the PT is kicked out and the company is run professionally.
Sep 02nd, 2015 - 09:35 pm 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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