Ecuador oil workers agree to return to work after strike

Oil workers in the Ecuadorean Amazon whose six-day strike caused a sharp drop in oil production and millions of dollars in losses agreed Sunday to return to work, an official said.

Strikers and government officials agreed that workers from companies contracted by state-run Petroecuador will be paid their back wages, Ecuadorean Undersecretary of State Felipe Vega told reporters.

On March 6, about 4,000 workers walked off the job demanding payment of three months of back pay and direct hiring by Petroecuador.

President Alfredo Palacio had decreed a state of emergency for the Amazon provinces of Orellana, Sucumbios and Napo after several hundred protesters seized Petroecuador’s largest oil fields to press their demands.

This will be lifted in certain areas Monday and completely lifted “once peace returns and production levels are recovered,” said Vega.

Pravda