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Brazilian strike to continue

Oil workers at Brazil's state-run energy company will remain on strike for two more days after failing to reach an agreement in talks with Petrobras, a union spokesman said yesterday.

  • Reuters
  • Published: 00:06 July 18, 2008
  • Gulf News

Sao Paulo: Oil workers at Brazil's state-run energy company will remain on strike for two more days after failing to reach an agreement in talks with Petrobras, a union spokesman said yesterday.

"There is no agreement, the standoff continues," Jose Maria Rangel, coordinator of the Norte Fluminense Oil Workers Union, told Reuters on the third day of a five-day strike.

Oil workers in the Campos Basin, which accounts for nearly 85 per cent of Brazil's crude output, started the strike at midnight on Sunday over demands that days on which workers depart from oil platforms be counted as paid work days.

Petrobras said in a statement on Wednesday night that it made a new proposal which the union would consider in its next assembly.

Currently, workers spend 14 days on a platform and 21 days at home. On duty they are entitled to 11 hours rest but in practice they sometimes get less, said Rangel.

Production on track

The union began dampening production in the Campos Basin at midnight on Sunday, reducing Petrobras daily output by 300,000 to 400,000 barrels initially.

But the company quickly dispatched emergency crews, and said they brought production back up to normal output of 1.8 million bpd by early Tuesday. Petrobras said the contingency teams could maintain output at full capacity for the duration of the strike.

But a nationwide solidarity strike is scheduled to begin late last night and today after a broad union for oil workers voted to proceed with a protest for more profit-sharing benefits.

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