9 May, 2016Oil and gas unions from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) met in Beirut, Lebanon from 21 to 22 April, as the drop in global oil prices continues to impose new challenges on oil workers and unions in the region.
The MENA region oil and gas network meeting, held with the support of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), brought together 31 delegates representing unions from the MENA countries as well as Turkey and Norway.
The social implications of lower oil prices and unions’ responses globally and in the MENA region, were at the centre of discussions. The meeting also reported on the progress of the network’s first year, as well as furthering sustainable networking at national, regional and company level.
Delegates from a number of multinational companies that operate in the region, including DNO, Exxon Mobil, FENOSA, Total and Shell, participated in the meeting and set up mechanisms for networking at company level in the region.
Based on the preliminary results of the questionnaire which was distributed earlier to the MENA unions, delegates from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia and Yemen pointed out the issues and union responses on: labour and union laws; health and safety; wages; workforce and unionization; union structures; precarious work; multinational companies; women and youth; social dialogue; and collective agreements.
The Turkish Oil Union, Petrol-is, and Norwegian union, Industri Energi, shared their experiences on transnational companies, which operate in the region, and building union power at international level.
In recent months, workers in the oil and gas industry in the region have been going through several struggles at industry and company level. The delegates discussed some key ongoing cases and concluded solidarity resolutions with Kuwait oil workers’ strike SAMIR refinery workers in Morocco, DNO workers in Yemen, as well as supporting the current struggle of the General Union of Petroleum & Chemical Workers in Jordan.
Participants further developed the action plan for the period to come and emphasized enhancing and expanding multinational networking and information exchange in the region; supporting capacity building of the new affiliated MENA oil and gas unions; increasing women’s participation; and improving solidarity at regional level.
The April network meeting followed the reunion of the MENA oil and gas Steering Committee in December 2015 in Amman, Jordan.