12 January, 2017Failure to pay workers in Yemen has made Norwegian oil company, DNO, a target of a trade union campaign.
IndustriALL Global Union and its Norwegian affiliate, Industri Energi, in partnership with LabourStart have launched a petition in support of 175 DNO workers and their families in Yemen, whom the company has failed to pay for more than 18 months.
In August 2016 the company was ordered to pay wages to the workers it sacked or face having its property and assets seized. Despite an appeal by DNO, the final decision of the court of appeal on 23 November 2016 was made in favour of DNO workers.
Following the ruling, the DNO Yemen Union says the company left the country without an official handover of its properties and assets. As a result, Yemeni authorities have now seized DNO’s property, bank accounts and vehicles in the country. DNO has so far failed to pay redundancy packages due to their workers and they are afraid that there are not enough resources left to fulfil the company’s obligations.
When war broke out in Yemen in Summer 2015, the company stopped its operations and terminated the contracts of its employees via SMS or email, adding to the hardship already faced by workers and their families.
Even before that, the company paid the lowest wages in Yemen compared to other oil companies operating in the country. Back in 2013 and 2014 workers organized a number of wage related strikes. Management responded with a written threat to dismiss all striking workers in violation of workers' legal rights to strike in Yemen.
Give your support to 175 Yemeni workers and their families by signing and sending the letter to DNO Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, via the following link http://www.labourstart.org/go/dnoyemen