{"id":5118,"date":"2013-11-07T12:52:16","date_gmt":"2013-11-07T18:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lavozlit.com\/?p=5118"},"modified":"2013-11-07T12:52:16","modified_gmt":"2013-11-07T18:52:16","slug":"oil-workers-strike-against-pre-salt-privatization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/2013\/11\/07\/oil-workers-strike-against-pre-salt-privatization\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil Workers Strike against Pr\u00e9-Salt Privatization"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nWritten by Clarckson Messias – PSTU <\/em>
\nWednesday, 06 November 2013 23:37<\/em>
\n
\nThere were eight days of a national strike sparked on October 17. Numerous refineries paralyzed, the gates of Transpetro\u2019s terminals were locked and several offshore platforms in the\u00a0<\/span>Bacia de Campos<\/em>\u00a0(RJ) halted production. In many plants, workers left the factory and delivered it to contingency operation groups, formed by managers, supervisors and coordinators.<\/span>
\nIn Revap in S\u00e3o Jos\u00e9 dos Campos (SP), the picket line made \u200b\u200bby the Oil Workers Union (Sindipetro), with the support of CSP-Conlutas, students and the Metalworkers Union generated an unusual scene: the company was obliged to contract helicopters to ensure the entry of strikebreakers in the plant. The refinery, which was in maintenance shutdown on the day the strike began, had its production delayed by two days.
\nIn Cubat\u00e3o (SP), outsourced workers of the Presidente Bernardes Refinery occupied the highway C\u00f4nego Domenico Rangoni. With the road taken by construction workers, a large meeting was held. All, without exception, decided to sit in. In Maca\u00e9 (RJ), more than 100 oil workers working in offshore platforms occupied the city airport on the 23rd chanting “the strike continues.”
\nTo the skeptics, the oil strike gave a categorical message: the June winds still blow in the country, forging new fights and putting on stage a strategic working sector. The demand for the suspension of the auction of the Libra Oil Field was the decisive factor for the mobilization, although the sector also mobilized for their wage campaign, converting the two fights into one. This combination ensured the realization of a historic strike, which represented a serious confrontation between the oil workers and Dilma Rousseff\u2019s government (PT).
\nStrike faced the Workers\u2019 Party (PT) government<\/strong>
\nThis is undoubtedly the largest mobilization of the sector after 1995, when radicalized oil workers held a strike for 32 days, halting production and even occupying some plants. 1995 and 2013 show a fundamental similarity: just as in 1995, when the former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB) intended to privatize the Petrobras, whose symbol was his attempt to change its name to PetroBrax, the fight was against the government’s privatizing agenda of the major state owned Brazilian enterprises. But with one difference: if the strike that year was against the neoliberal doctrine of Cardoso, in 2013 the fight collided with PT\u2019s policy, which, in 1994, stamped on the poster of the election campaign: “State Oil Monopoly: only Lula[1]<\/a>\u00a0can assume this commitment.”
\nIt is true that the strike was not enough to stop the auction, but the oil workers action has a positive balance sheet. Rather, the mobilization of the sector put the auction of the Libra oil field \u2013 an almost invisible event until then \u2013 before the eyes of the society. It deepened the erosion of the government and its neoliberal policies, forcing Dilma Rousseff[2]<\/a>\u00a0to speak on national broadcast, and put in motion a sector that, despite its fighting tradition, for many years didn\u2019t lead such a big mobilization. Now, the oil workers learned, in practice, that it is possible to fight and win. And more, they advanced their experience with a government which, until the auction, they considered to be \u201ctheirs\u201d. The speeches against the government and its privatization agenda were the most cheered in the assemblies and rallies of the oil workers.
\nThis year, thanks to the strike, the workers won important demands in their wage campaign, such as health care for the Transpetro\u2019s retirees and a guarantee fund for outsourced workers, who suffer with contractors\u2019 defaults. Moreover, the mobilization achieved a bonus of R$ 7,200 and an adjustment of 8.56 % on wages for employees in active service. And it was successful on obliging Petrobras to withdraw a series of measures that it had tried to impose, such as the inclusion of targets for PLR (profit sharing) and shift arrangements that reinforced the logic of production at any cost.
\nThe strike could achieve more<\/strong>
\nThe largest oil workers mobilization since 1995 could achieve important demands, as the increase over inflation of the base salary, the end of the frozen scale of wages, the end of discrimination and benefits increase for retirees. But the leadership of the Oil Workers’ Federation (FUP), affiliated to the CUT, acted to demobilize the strike at its peak, on October 23. At its strongest moment, when there were real chances to win important advancements for the workers, the FUP backed the company’s proposal. The odd thing was that the FUP retreated just hours after announcing, on its website, the continuation of the strike.
\nThe agreement with the company was made in the dead of night. As reported by the National Federation of Oil Workers (FNP) on its website, “the acceptance by the FUP was based on a lie: that Petrobras had guaranteed not punishing the workers on strike. The very agreement proposed by the company shows it is not true. What the company has ‘guaranteed’ is to ‘discuss with the unions’ before taking any action on possible excesses. Where is the guarantee? Nowhere.”
\nThe oil workers have to learn from this betrayal of the FUP\u2019s leadership. The strengthening of the opposition unionism, which was fundamental to build and strengthen the strike in the Norte Fluminense (RJ), Duque de Caxias (RJ), Unificado (SP), among other branches, is crucial at this time.
\nLessons of October<\/strong>
\nThe oil workers made an exceptional experience during this strike. They achieved economic advances, have given a step forward in the struggle against privatization and raised their level of consciousness. They held a historic mobilization against a PT\u2019s government. This means that nothing will be as before. The strengthening of the oil workers is going to make the Petrobras and the government work hard.
\nAlthough the auction has not been suspended, the struggle continues. The goal of the sector and of all of the Brazilian society committed to the fight for national sovereignty is the revocation of the Libra oil field\u2019s auction. In the streets, the mission is to continue fighting for the end of the auctions and for the state oil monopoly, under the responsibility of a 100 % state-owned Petrobras, while the government already signals further privatization of other oil fields, as the announced auction of 240 blocks planned for the end November.
\n———————————-
\n[1]<\/a>Ign\u00e1cio \u201cLula\u201d da Silva was the PT (Workers\u2019 Party) candidate for the presidency that year, and is the main PT leader currently.
\n[2]<\/a>Dilma Rousseff (PT) is the president of Brazil. She won the 2010 election with Lula\u2019s support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Clarckson Messias – PSTU Wednesday, 06 November 2013 23:37 There were eight days of a national strike sparked on October 17. Numerous refineries paralyzed, the gates of Transpetro\u2019s terminals were locked and several offshore platforms in the\u00a0Bacia de Campos\u00a0(RJ) halted production. In many plants, workers left the factory and delivered it to contingency […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13882120,"featured_media":5119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27806],"tags":[28227,28851,28852,27910],"class_list":["post-5118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internacionalinternational","tag-dilma-rousseff","tag-domenico-rangoni","tag-fup","tag-pt"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"es","enabled_languages":["en","es"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdQxqk-1ky","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13882120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}