Dec 29 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Superior Labor Court ruled staffing levels to remain at 80% at all Petrobras facilities in Brazil as negotiations between workers at the state-run oil company drag on amid a prolonged strike.
In a statement from the court, the ruling made on Saturday also bars worker unions from blocking the transportation of workers and equipment to and from facilities, including those of Petrobras’ logistics subsidiary Transpetro.
“We continue working and ensuring production and supply,” Sylvia dos Anjos, head of exploration and production, told Reuters on Sunday. The company said in a separate statement that after about four months of efforts to reach an understanding at the negotiating table, 11 unions have approved the company’s compensation proposal, “ending the strike movement in the vast majority of their bases.”
Petrobras said there remain five dissenting groups.
On Friday, labor union Sindipetro-NF, which represents about 25,000 workers in Brazil’s oil industry, rejected the most recent proposal by the state-run oil firm to end the nearly two-week strike that began on Dec. 15.
Regarding the Saturday ruling, Sindipetro-NF said the court also ordered Petrobras to provide information including headcount by operating unit, job title, and function, calling the decision “a victory.”
FNP, a separate group also on strike representing some 26,000 workers, said keeping Petrobras staffing levels at 80% “is unenforceable.”
It is unclear when the dispute will end as salary talks also involve complex issues regarding Petrobras’ pension funds and deductions over payments to pensioners.
Petrobras played down any impact on production resulting from the ongoing labor action, adding it deployed contingency teams where necessary to guarantee the market stays supplied.
Brazil Energy Insight 
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