The biggest Petrobras privatization process in history is underway. The former president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB), well-known as FHC, failed to cut it in pieces and sell them directly to the big oil companies, because he had to face the heroic 1995 strike. The PT government, taking advantage of the pro-government policy that the FUP/CUT [1] imposes to the organization of oil workers, wants to fulfill this nefarious role.
Dilma’s neoliberal administration for the sector, culminating in the biggest oil field auction in history, the field of Libra, now attacks the company’s assets, by selling assets, undertaking IPOs, dismembering the company, etc. Along with the rightwing senators’ bills, like José Serra (PSDB-SP), or deputies, as Mendonça Filho (DEM-PE), it tries to further hinder the state owned operation of our oil reserves.
The formula used by FHC to sell the Vale do Rio Doce company is used again. The government makes up the loss, speculates on the company’s market value and thus prepares its sale at a “bargain price”. The inclusion of an alleged loss of R $ 6 billion due to corruption plaguing the company was the barely concealed part of the plan, a requirement of the American auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The Petrobras attacks by a third flank. Bendine, the company’s president, triggers a strong attack on working conditions and wages of oil workers and a huge wave of layoffs of outsourced workers.
For all these reasons, the national strike should be done with the force necessary to stop the loss of rights and Petrobras divestment to prevent it from turning, at the hands of Dilma’s government, into a foreign privately owned enterprise, with thousands of layoffs and poor labor relations.
To defend Petrobras and its workers, Dilma’s government must be defeated
On 20th anniversary of the 1995 strike, the oil workers have learned what the PSDB [2] is. So, they fear attacks coming from the rightwing parties and the mainstream media and don’t want the return of FHC and his mob to power.
However, the current attacks on Petrobras and the oil workers labor rights have been made directly by the PT federal government. This is the truth, though it may be hard to admit, because many oil workers voted for the current government believing that the PT would not do the same as the rightwing bourgeoisie.
These attacks are part of the fiscal adjustment (austerity plan) of the federal government, which continues to pay the public debt that consumes half of Brazil’s national budget. Rousseff throws the account of the crisis on the backs of the entire working class, while the bankers and big business are still laughing for no reason and are grateful for that by funding the election campaigns of PT, PMDB and PSDB.
Similarly, building the strike opposing the struggle for pay rise to the fight against privatization, seeing the challenges of the oil workers sector as tasks restricted to Petrobras walls, will lead us to defeat.
You can’t defend Petrobras and the sector labor rights without facing the attacks of the federal government. We need to unify all sectors that are struggling to build a large general strike to put down the fiscal adjustment.
We need to build an independent working class alternative to avoid being hostages of the bourgeois politicians. This strike could also play an important role in the political organization of workers at all.
Some proposals to address the crisis and defend Petrobras and its workers
– Take out the company from the sea of mud in which the PT, PSDB, PMDB and corrupt businessmen sink, clinging to each other. Stop this mutual exchange of favors! Enough with Dilma (PT), Aécio (PSDB), Cunha (PMDB) and Temer (PMDB)! Petrobras should be democratized, under workers’ control and with transparency to the whole society. Prison without bail for white-collar criminals.
– Re-nationalization of Petrobras. To reduce the dependence on foreign capital, to make Petrobras a lever for national development, improving the quality of life of Brazilians, investing in education, technology and strengthening our sovereignty.
– No to layoffs. The government should assume the strategic infrastructure works for the country’s sovereignty. It must complete the building of the new refineries to achieve independence in the production of diesel, petrol and derivatives. We propose the nationalization of corrupt contractors, as a form of compensation, the resumption of works with the reduction of working hours without pay loss, and the readmission of all outsourced workers.
– Incorporation of outsourced workers. The number of work accidents has grown in Petrobras, victimizing mainly the outsourced workers. Life must be above profit! We must develop mechanisms and criteria for incorporating outsourced workers to the company so we can work side by side, without discrimination, in safety and dignity.
– Suspension of the payment and audit of public debt. Several researchers claim that the public debt – that consumes half of the country’s budget – is illegitimate and has already been paid. The debt payment is a legalized theft. With that money, the country could solve the energy crisis, invest 10% of GDP in education and health, and improve the population’s quality of life.
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Notes:
[1] – FUP: Federação Única dos Petroleiros (Oil Workers Federation of Unions); CUT: Central Única dos Trabalhadores (Unified Workers’ Central) are National trade unions associations that support the Workers’ Party (PT) and its government, led by Dilma Rousseff.
[2] – PSDB: Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (Party of the Brazilian Social Democracy), the main bourgeois rightwing party in Brazil.
