Workers of Petrobras in the Campos Basin have voted for strike action starting on Friday, according to Reuters.
The workers are dissatisfied with the latest pay offer from Brazil’s scandal-hit and debt-ridden state oil firm. It is a proposed 6% increase, below the country’s 8.9% rate of inflation. Traditionally Petrobras’ pay rises have at least covered inflation.
Campos Basin is a vast area covering both onshore and offshore fields. It is the most productive region of oil production in the country, accounting for 60% of the country’s output.
The strikers are also unhappy with Petrobras’ plans to change contracts such that the company could reduce the number of working hours for employees.
Petrobras, $125bn in debt and weighed down by the fallout from a massive bribery scandal, has been looking at many ways to cut costs and to replenish its coffers, including staff layoffs, asset divestment and budget cuts.
