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9 January, 2006
Contract workers in Azerbaijan’s oil and gas construction industry continue to unionise, following the successful lead by Azeri workers, employed by US contractor McDermott International, late in November 2005.
Some 2,000 workers at McDermott, BP and state-run SOCAR’s largest contractor, engaged in strike actions to win 30% wage gains, medical care, and union recognition with ICEM affiliate Oil and Gas Industry Workers’ Trade Union of Azerbaijan (OGWU). Union Chairman Jahangir Aliyev now estimates 5,000 to 7,000 contract workers are seeking unionisation, as Azeri workers employed by western oil service companies seek equivalent pay to that of foreign nationals employed on Caspian energy projects.
On 19 December 2005, 1,600 workers employed at the offshore BosShelf site, a French-Azeri construction project partially owned by Bouygues, officially organised with OGWU following a strike.
Responding to the rush of workers to organise, BP Azerbaijan President David Woodward conceded, “This is their right and no one can stop them from doing this. If they wish, we see the right for employees to take collective action.”
In a related Caspian labour development, OGWU and another ICEM affiliate, ROGWU, Russia’s powerful oil and gas workers’ union, agreed at ROGWU’s Congress in Moscow 21-22 December 2005 to begin joint union-building activities in 2006 intended to lead to a protocol agreement between the two unions.