News and AnalysIs for

The USO news this week highlighted an ongoing fight about the December 11th death of Milton Rivas, a union leader in Puerto Gaitan. Public officials claim his death was the union’s fault something obviously denied by the leadership. The USO’s president went to Washington to claim Rivas’ death was a result of deteriorating working conditions caused by the Free Trade Agreement with the US, a claim that makes no sense whatsoever considering this is Puerto Gaitan and not Caño Limón.

Multiple sources in the Colombian news media reported that Pacific Rubiales has signed an agreement with the National Agency to Overcome Extreme Poverty (ANSPE) and the Puerto Lopez mayor’s office, to help eradicate poverty in this municipality.

National newspaper El Tiempo reports that the government’s agenda has been slowed due to prior consultations with ethnic minorities. The lack of clarity in the process has suspended the progress of the rural development law, Mining Code reform, section 3 of the Ruta del Sol highway and the CARs (regional autonomous environmental authorities) reform, among other projects, until minorities approve them.

The USO is back protesting the creation of Cenit SAS, the Ecopetrol spinout that holds the state-owned oil company’s infrastructure assets. This would seem to be a train that left the station a long time ago but it does give the union a soapbox to preach from. In other news, the USO continues to target Ecopetrol contractors to get their workers back into the union fold.

It was a slow news week for the Colombian petroleum workers union (USO). The only item was this one about the USO taking up the environmental cause against Ecopetrol. Forgive our cynicism but we doubt if the USO has suddenly to the cause of clean water. More likely they are looking for leverage on some other issue or it is part of a broader strategy to disconnect the industry from the community. The irony of course is that MinMinas Federico Renjifo went to the same area within the past few weeks and praised Ecopetrol’s environmental management.

Multiple sources in the Colombian news media report that workers at the Cerrejon coal mine have voted to go on strike the first week of February. Given this possibility, mine managers invited employees affiliated to the National Coal Industry Union (Sintracarbón) to negotiate their demands. There has not been a strike in the mine for more than 22 years.

Website ConfidencialColombia.com reports that Pacific Rubiales will invest US$30M in social projects this year, 5% more than in 2012. Alejandro Jimenez, corporate social responsibility manager of the company, stated: “2013 investments will benefit indigenous and ethnic communities, and other minorities. The good relationship with communities was evident in the harmonious atmosphere that maintained an uneventful operation; there were no blocks or public order disturbances during 2012 or so far this year.”

Business newspaper La Republica reports that Pacific Rubiales awarded suppliers and contractors with the best performance in 2012. To this end they organized the third meeting of suppliers and contractors. Federico Restrepo, the company’s vice president of corporate affairs and sustainability said these incentives allow service companies “continue to accompany us on this journey towards higher levels of activity, efficiency and competitiveness.”

El Espectador reports that governor of La Guajira, Juan Francisco Gomez Cerchar, requested that PDVSA be in charge of importing and distributing fuel in this department. To this, the Ayatawacoop indigenous cooperative, which distributes fuels in La Guajira, expressed its opposition and questioned the understanding of the governor and his staff on the issue, as this is not feasible under the law 681 of 2001.

The most important issue in the USO report this week is an action by Pacific Rubiales transport workers for better pay and working conditions. The National Transport Workers Union (SNTT for its initials in Spanish) wants to recruit more workers to the cause and then pressure the company for meal allowances, housing and education subsidies. Most of the company’s crude is transported by pipeline but it still needs tanker trucks especially for diluents. Other companies would be far more affected if relations with drivers became confrontational. We estimate 61,000bd of crude are transported by truck, just from the department of Meta.