In a letter to oil workers, FUP criticizes the handover of pre-salt reserves.

247 - The Unified Federation of Oil Workers (FUP) criticized, through a statement, the "media bombardment" suffered by Petrobras since 2003, which "aims to weaken the Brazilian state-owned company and thus justify the handover of the pre-salt reserves," not to combat corruption.

"Pedro Parente has assumed the interim presidency of Petrobras at the hands of a coup government. He has already warned that it is not in the company's interest to be the operator of the pre-salt fields, that he will intensify the sale of assets, and that he will not tolerate political interference in the company, even though he himself is the product of a political appointment by the PSDB party," the text says.

FUP also reminds that Parente is facing several lawsuits and that "it is not an inference by FUP that the current president of Petrobras participated in the sale of 30% of Refap in December 2000, which caused the company losses of US$ 2,3 billion, due to the asset swap carried out with Repsol/YPF".

Read the full text of the Letter to Oil Workers:

Over the past two years, Petrobras has been the victim of a media bombardment that has nothing to do with the corruption crimes that have been bleeding the company dry since long before 2003, crimes with which we have never been and will never be complacent. These attacks aim to weaken the Brazilian state-owned company and thereby justify handing over the pre-salt reserves.

We, the workers of Petrobras, both direct and outsourced employees, as well as Brazilian society as a whole, are all victims of this campaign to discredit the company. The damage is more than visible: the oil sector's production chain has been severely impacted, the shipbuilding industry is in shambles, and national engineering is being dismantled. The result is thousands of unemployed and a GDP in freefall, driven by Petrobras' divestments.

It is in this context that Pedro Parente assumes the interim presidency of Petrobras at the hands of a coup government. He has already announced that it is not in the company's interest to be the operator of the pre-salt fields, that he will intensify the sale of assets, and that he will not tolerate political interference in the company, even though he himself is a product of a political appointment by the PSDB party.

Furthermore, Pedro Parente has positioned himself opportunistically regarding the Petrobras crisis, as if it were something isolated from what is happening with other oil companies in the world, also impacted by the brutal fall in oil barrel prices. He treats the company's strategic legacy of achievements as "disastrous management" and says that his mission is to recover the company's credibility with the market.

He probably doesn't remember, but the first time Petrobras received an investment-grade rating from an international credit rating agency was in 2005, followed by two more certifications in 2007.

It is, at the very least, reckless for Pedro Parente to attribute Petrobras' crisis to corruption, when in fact several other companies are facing financial difficulties due to the more than 40% drop in oil prices. The British company BP recorded a loss of US$8,49 billion in 2015. Statoil lost US$4,9 billion and the American company ConocoPhillips closed the year with a negative balance of US$4 billion. In the case of Petrobras, the impact of the crisis was even greater due to currency devaluation.

RESPECT FOR WORKERS

In a message sent to workers on June 13th, Pedro Parente attempted to explain the legal actions he faces. He stated that he was doing so "out of respect" for the workers, who deserve his "total consideration." What respect and consideration does he have for us if he has already announced that he will relinquish the pre-salt reserves, benefiting multinational corporations that are Petrobras' competitors? Does respecting the workforce mean dumping assets on the market with low oil prices? What consideration does he have for the workers when he dismisses any kind of financial intervention by the majority shareholder?

Without new pre-salt reserves, without assets, and without state resources, what will be the future of Petrobras and its workers, whom Pedro Parente claims to have so much respect and consideration for?

Nothing to fear?

In an attempt to evade responsibility for the losses he caused to public funds during his time as a minister under Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Pedro Parente played the victim, claiming to be "the target of personal attacks by union organizations." However, the lawsuits against him were not invented by FUP or its unions. They are facts.

The Brazilian Federal Public Prosecutor's Office is accusing the president of Petrobras in lawsuits filed against him in the 20th and 21st Federal Courts of Brasília due to his participation in the Proer program. The financial aid that the FHC government gave to bankers between 1995 and 2001 caused a billion-dollar hole in public coffers at the time. The lawsuits against Pedro Parente concern two of the seven private banks that benefited from Proer, Bamerindus and Banco Econômico, which, according to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, caused losses of R$ 2,9 billion to the State, equivalent to more than R$ 15 billion when adjusted to current values.

It is also not an inference by FUP that the current president of Petrobras participated in the sale of 30% of Refap in December 2000, which caused the company losses of US$ 2,3 billion due to the asset swap with Repsol/YPF. At the time, the state-owned company ceded US$ 3 billion in assets to the multinational and received US$ 750 million in return. Pedro Parente was a member of Petrobras' Board of Directors and authorized the deal. Therefore, he is the subject of a Public Civil Action in the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region, in Rio Grande do Sul, which is awaiting an expert assessment of the negotiated values ​​and their implications.

The FUP (Unified Federation of Oil Workers) and its unions will continue to mobilize the workforce and Brazilian society in defense of national sovereignty. The pre-salt oil reserves and Petrobras are the greatest assets the people possess to build a nation with economic and social development. We cannot allow Pedro Parente and the coup plotters to hand over this patrimony to the market on a silver platter.

Always fight. Never fear.