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USO reported their health and education rights are being supposedly violated by Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC.) The Union said drastic measures would have to be taken if the NOC does not agree to negotiate with them.

This week, USO celebrated the fact that Cartagena’s Court decided to stop a legal process against one of its leaders, as well as the sanction that was levied on Ecopetrol (NYSE: EC) for allegedly imposing a ’voluntary agreement’ on its workers. However, events such as the protests in Nuevo Córdoba and the arrest orders against leaders from 2016’s tanker strikes remain a cause for concern to the Union leaders.

President Juan Manuel Santos asked MinHacienda Mauricio Cárdenas and MinMinas Germán Arce, to meet with Colombia’s mayors and governors to resolve the ‘controversy’ that changes to the gasoline surcharge has aroused.

Centro Democrático’s Senator, Ernesto Macías, has been persistently denouncing the lack of follow-up to the General System of Royalties (SGR) implemented by President Santos’ government.

Perhaps the most difficult social conflict problem today is in Guamal in Meta where Ecopetrol’s activities in CPO-9 have been interrupted by blockades and threatened with a ‘anti-oil’ referendum. We though readers might be interested in how the company is dealing with the matter from a public relations point of view.

The Norwegian Embassy in Colombia in cooperation with the International Center for Hydropower (ICH) organized “Talks on peacebuilding in the energy sector: roads and challenges of the post conflict” in Bogotá. HCC was present at the event; we have a brief summary of the meeting.

The Colombian Association of Oil Engineers, Acipet celebrated Journalists’ Day and HCC attended the event. Topics such as the current labor situation for oil engineers, the industry’s projections for 2017 and fracking were discussed.

Friction between USO’s directives and Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) continues to dominate the Union’s press statements. USO’s president said Ecopetrol keeps on harassing its members, and disagreements between Independence Drilling, the NOC and workers in Putumayo can escalate into a social conflict if a solution regarding better working conditions is not reached by the end of the week.

Inhabitants of five villages in Guamal held a peaceful strike to protest against the construction of the Trogon platform, to be developed by Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) and Repsol (MSE:REP).

Not hiring local labor remains a cause for discontent in Magdalena Medio and Meta, but the industry is showing its commitment to the country by developing several infrastructure and social projects in rural Yondó, Puerto Gaitán, several municipalities in Casanare and the Caribbean and Pacific regions. These and other Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects in our periodic summary.