Saturday May 9, 09:52 PM
Venezuela oil takeovers may leave 22,000 jobless: unions
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CARACAS (AFP) - Venezuelan unions estimated Saturday that nearly 22,000 oil contractors stand to lose their jobs after President Hugo Chavez's government seized the assets of 60 local and foreign-owned oil firms.
"This law does not benefit us," Bernardino Chirinos, leader of the Union of Oil Workers in the western state of Zulia, told El Nacional newspaper.
"There are 35,000 workers on the east coast (of Zulia state) and only 8,000 will be absorbed. There are 22,000 workers without guarantees."
Venezuela, the Americas' largest oil exporter, began Friday to expropriate some oil service providers, a day after the National Assembly passed a law extending the state's control to all activities related to the oil industry.
Shortly after the law's passage, the government announced that private contractors servicing wells, transporting workers and providing other services in the oil-rich Maracaibo Lake area in Zulia state will be taken over by the state-run Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
Some 8,000 workers there were confirmed to become PDVSA employees.
"We are liberating the homeland, building socialism with workers," Chavez said.
Opposition lawmakers have criticized PDVSA for running up debts and being unable to meet payments despite a months-long windfall from high oil prices. As of September, PDVSA had 7.858 billion dollars in debt to its suppliers.
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