Colombia’s labor minister Rafael Pardo Rueda met with a delegation of political and social leaders from Casanare to discuss the trouble plagued labor relationship between the local community and oil companies.
The USO held another “ethical judgment” session and called on Pacific Rubiales Energy to be expelled from Colombia for what it says are systematic violations of the right to freely form a union and said that it would be setting up an operational commission to specifically monitor its actions.
Following an early August resolution to restrict heavy trucks on Casanare roadways during weekends and holidays, the department’s secretary of public works Wilson Arenas has said in order to consider lifting the restrictions, oil producers must implement a safety protocol.
Members of municipal authorities questioned plans to extend the Carmentea Pipeline near the city of Yopal and accused oil operators in the region of not respecting rural communities and the environment.
After a number of families raised protests against oil producer Cepcolsa and set up a blockade in the access to a local well, company and community officials met to discuss labor and social guarantees in the Sevilla village.
A number of corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects have been completed or announced over the last few weeks which show a more positive side of community and industry relations. Many are too small to warrant a full story, but together paint a picture of how the oil sector’s resources can benefit local communities.
Five Casanare mayors spoke out against seismic testing Ecopetrol has planned for its Odisea 3D project in Casanare, alleging the testing is performed without adequate control and affects water sources and the environment in general.
After coming out of a strike early this month union workers with the USO continued talks involving the labor conditions at the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar) as the union claims the company is forcing workers to work extra hours through intimidation.
Representatives from multiple oil operators, the Interior Ministry and the National Hydrocarbons Agency met with the mayor of San Luís Palenque and local village spokespeople to sign an agreement related to local hiring and road maintenance.
The Secretary of Transit and Transport of the Municipality of Yopal has launched a public service campaign to alert drivers of heavy vehicles to the traffic signs and rules, as the authority says it has received community complaints that these drivers are causing problems on the public roadways.
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