The collective organization in the oil sector: Conflict, economic struggle and trade union democracy

Abstract

The present work is a contribution to the discussion about merging strategic challenges among the labourers’ unions in a context of deep changes in social relations, in a general manner, and, particularly, in production relationships. In order to accomplish our objective, we’ll work theoritecally along three analysis levels about labour conflict: the general way of production, general principles of working process organization; the real running of working process.

After expressing the complexity of the ways of labour conflicto in a context of new and more precise ways of productivity organization and capital gain aproppiation, the second objective of this work is to establish analytic bridges that allow us to understand how this dynamic Works in a specific production area, such as oil workers, that in the last 10 years have settled down and have given a solid structure to the oil labour union -by naming delegates and forming working unions as well as a working federation- so as to establish goals, strategies and practices. We’ll specially focus on the way that workers have taken a position and have determined their identity and goals in front of the collective organization which had been allowed again in 2004.