U.S.O.

(Colombian Oil Industry Workers Union) Representatives Denounce Canadian Extractive Company Pacific Rubiales Energy's Violations in Colombia In response to an invitation from various social organizations and unions in Canada, an U.S.O. Committee held a tour of three major Canadian cities from April 30th to May 9th: Montreal, Ottawa y Toronto. Large segments of Canadian civil society, including NGO's, human rights groups, indigenous peoples, environmental organizations, trade unions, labour federations, journalists, academics and university students amongst others, as well as members of parliament from the official opposition (NDP) and Green Party, were responsive to our situation. We denounced the failure of the governments of Canada and Colombia to comply with labour and environmental agreements and respect human rights, in spite of commitments being ratified by both governments under the CCFTA (Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement), which came into effect in August 2011. Under the CCFTA both countries endorsed their status as ILO members and their commitment to protect, enhance and enforce workers basic rights, strengthen labour support and build up on their respective international commitments. Our complaints have been substantiated by the disastrous consequences caused by Canadian multinational companies in the mining and energy sectors in Colombia. Specifically, the role of Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE), which controls a large percentage of domestic production of crude, was highlighted. Pacific Rubiales Energy has imposed its own government in the City of Puerto Gaitan, Meta Province. Canadians were shocked to learn that the four top executives of this multinational, the Venezuelan coup dtat leaders Miguel de la Campa, Jose Francisco Arata, Serafino Iacono and Ronald Pantin earn each an average sum of 21,000 million pesos per year (As published by Money Magazine, January 2012) while workers and surrounding communities impacted by oil exploitation live under deprived situations due to the unawareness of their rights. In July 2011, about 13,500 workers, the majority subcontracted into precarious working conditions, requested our presence in the field. This visit exposed that over 90% of the workforce was outsourced by dreadful employment contracts, has low wages, long working hours and overcrowded living conditions among other injustices. Despite the fact that U.S.O. has presented a list of demands under the framework of agreements with both the Colombian government and Pacific Rubiales to improve the workers conditions, the multinational and government, as represented by the labour minister, ignored ILO Conventions 87 and 98. These ILO conventions guarantee the right of association and collective bargaining, and were duly ratified by our country. The Canadian multinational continues to obstruct access to facilities with physical barriers such as vehicles, pipe structures; they organize security checkpoints on public streets with the participation and consent of their security guards and supported by members of the

Colombian security forces. This has repeatedly happened to various USO members and to the Colombian Senator, Alexander Lpez Maya, late last year. Some photographs were shown as evidence of the environmental pollution from the dumping of contaminated waste water into rivers and water sources, which before the arrival of Pacific Rubiales were pure. The difficult situation of indigenous peoples in the area, which has become increasingly worse as a result of displacement by oil exploitation and a lack of compliance with the agreements signed by this corporation, was also described. The reality is that, as far as we could observe, Pacific Rubiales Energy is a Canadian multinational almost unknown by many Canadians. However, it is public knowledge that this corporation has been investing millions of dollars in the Colombian media to sell to the general population their exemplary corporate social responsibility using lies such as: Pacific is Colombia; Pacific is for you and Pacific without conditions for Colombia. Pacific Rubiales Energy has also sponsored festivals and public events in the main cities of the country. For example; last year Pacific Rubiales brought Bill Clinton, ex-president of the United States, to Bogota to play golf with current Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos; it is a shareholder of Cablenoticias a radio and television network; it tried to buy the most famous Colombian newspaper "El Tiempo" and one of its latest investments was to become a sponsor of the Colombian Soccer Team. Many Canadian organizations have pledged to support campaigns and public events denouncing multinationals in Colombia. One specific event to be held July 13, 2013 in Meta province is a hearing against multinationals in the mining and extractive sector, in which Pacific Rubiales will be highlighted. Afterwards, in the beginning of August, we will proceed with a Peoples Tribunal in search of a political and ethical prosecution of the multinationals that are currently in Colombia.
Written by: U.S.O International Commission on May 14, 2013.