Brazil oil workers union to meet with Petrobras

Brazilian oil workers, represented by the Federacion Unica de Petroleros (FUP), will meet with state-owned Petroleo Brasileiro SA on July 23 to discuss ongoing issues with the company.

July 22, 2008

Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, July 22 -- Brazilian oil workers, represented by the Federacion Unica de Petroleros (FUP), will meet with state-owned Petroleo Brasileiro SA on July 23 to discuss ongoing issues with the company.

FUP, which said the meeting is scheduled to discuss profit-sharing proposals, threatened a nationwide strike starting Aug. 5 to force the company to the negotiating table.

Earlier, FUP added another issue to the discussions by supporting members of the Sindipetro-NF union, largely platform workers in the key Campos basin who last week went on strike.

The chief demand of the 1,600 striking Campos employees is that Petrobras should pay workers for the day it takes them to travel from the mainland to the offshore rigs. In support, FUP organized a 48-hour work slowdown at Petrobras' refineries, distribution terminals, and pipelines.

FUP official Jose Genivaldo Silva last week estimated that at least 30,000 of the state firm's 55,000 workers would participate in the planned broader strike, and he predicted that production would be "affected" if not altogether halted (OGJ Online, July 18, 2008).

Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].