Petrobras to ax jobs

RIO DE JANEIRO , March 17, 2016 – State-run Petrobras is expected to shed up to 12,000 workers through a voluntary layoff programme, the o Estado de S.Paulo newspaper reported on Thursday. Representing some 15% of the company’s entire staff, the layoff initiative is expected to be announced some time in June.

Local sources say Petrobras will use the occasion of the presentation of its 2016-2020 business plan to publicise its layoff programme. Earlier this month, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Petrobras was considering to substantially reduce its five-year investment plan.

The anticipated layoffs come at a time of legal woes for Petrobras and an ongoing, widespread corruption investigation that has thus far implicated top-level executives and high-ranking politicians, including former President Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva. On March 13, people across Brazil staged the largest-ever protests in the country’s history. As many as 1.4 million people in São Paulo alone demand the removal of President Dilma Rousseff.

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