Brazil oil union call for 24-hour strike

Oil workers in Brazil have scheduled to go on strike for 24 hours on July 24 in protest of state-owned Petrobras’ cuts to budget and asset sales.

The federation of oil workers in Brazil, the FUP, made an announcement on Thursday for the 24-hour strike to its member unions. Each member union would need to approve the strike given the country’s labour laws.

FUP supports full nationalisation of Petrobras and opposes foreign financial involvement in the country’s hydrocarbons industry. The federation also wants to bring back to the monopoly the state company had over the industry in the exploration, production and refining sectors.

According to Forbes magazine, Petrobras has a debt of about $170 million, the largest of any oil company. On June 29, the Brazilian oil company cut its long-term spending by 41 percent to $130.3 billion in an attempt to manage its debts and deal with repercussions of its ongoing corruption scandal.

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