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Un/Employment Strikes International Energy
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 23—Hundreds of oil company employees went on strike Tuesday for higher pay, AP said.
The job action cut supplies to power stations and factories as Iraq faces its worst fuel shortage since Saddam Hussein’s 2003 ouster.
About 350 workers from the Iraqi Pipes and Lines Company in the southern city of Basra and another 200 in Nasiriyah, about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, walked off the job Tuesday morning, according to the head of the workers’ union.
The workers want higher salaries, paid holidays and a share of the profits. Monthly salaries at the company currently range from $130 to $280.
The company runs tankers and pipelines transporting oil and gas from the Shuaiba refinery in Basra to electricity stations, factories and companies in southern Iraq.
Although the strike was likely to add to the current fuel shortage, its effects would be limited, said Oil Ministry spokesman Assim Jihad.
“Definitely that will create a shortage in oil products, but not to a big degree,“ Jihad said, adding that refineries at Beiji in northern Iraq and Dora in southern Baghdad were still functioning and able to supply fuel.
Iraq has been plagued by periodic fuel shortages since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Even though the country has the world’s third-largest proven oil reserves, it is forced to depend on imports because of an acute shortage of refined products such as gasoline, kerosene and cooking gas. Sabotage of pipelines by insurgents, corruption and aging refineries have been blamed.
Iraq’s three main oil refineries—Dora, Beiji and Shuaiba—are working at half their capacity, processing only 350,000 barrels per day compared to 700,000 barrels a day before the war.
http://www.iran-daily.com/1385/2643/html/ieconomy.htm#s168468
Forum posts
27 August 2006, 04:06
The oil minister’s name is Mr. JIHAD?
1 September 2006, 17:17
Here’s an update on the strike:
http://www.worldnewstrust.com/content/view/53/lang,en/
Basra Oil Workers Strike Could Resume Sunday
Kathlyn Stone — World News Trust
Aug. 31, 2006 – Oil pipeline workers in Basra, Iraq, will resume their strike as early as Sunday if authorities do not meet the remaining demands of workers, the Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions in Iraq said Thursday.
About 500 oil and gas workers went on strike for 48 hours beginning Aug. 22 for higher pay, overtime, timely pay and ambulances at the work site.
The oil ministry agreed to raise the salaries of workers, which average about $200 a month, but did not commit to the remaining items.
A general strike by union workers could soon follow the Basra oil workers’ strike, the FWCUI said. Union leaders will meet next week to finalize demands and set a deadline for the authorities’ response. The demands currently under discussion include housing the workers, raising minimum salaries, expanding limits of promotion and salary, converting contracted workers into full-time workers, and curbing bureaucracy and corruption.