Trade unions reported no improvement in their relations with the oil companies. The last few years, the management of Esso-Chad has also tried to scupper social dialogue. PETROSYNAT, the trade union which represents almost all employees of this subsidiary of ExxonMobil reported even greater difficulties with subcontracting firms. Security is used as a pretext for forbidding the union representatives from the various sites and companies from meeting in each other’s offices.
Trade union activists at the China National Petroleum Corporation International (CNPCI) who is responsible for the exploitation of a new oilfield will be even worse off with an employer who has refused to enter into any negotiations until the first barrel is extracted in 2011.
