Powerful statement from the Oil Workers Rank-and-File Committee (OWRFC) in support of Chevron oil workers currently on strike in Richmond, California. Please read and share with sympathetic co-workers/friends. The only way we, the working class, are going to change things is by uniting together against these multinational corporations with an international strategy/program and perspective.
******
“The oil companies are milking the situation dry to maximize their profits, which are extracted from our labor. Now, they will be pumping out even more profits because our labor will be cheaper thanks to the paltry 2.5-3.0 percent increases imposed upon us by the USW.
…
While we, the workers, cannot afford the gas we refine, corporate profits were the highest since 1950 last year, the oil companies spent billions on stock buybacks to enrich their shareholders, and CEO pay hit record heights in 2021. Chevron boss Mike Wirth pockets $30 million a year, while we’re told we must endure a cut in real pay for the next four years!
On Wednesday, Wirth and five other oil executives were in Washington for a bit of play acting in Congress. Politicians pretended they cared about the impact of high fuel prices on working people, while the CEOs were indignant over the suggestion that they might be deliberately driving up prices. “I want be absolutely clear,” Wirth declared, “we do not control the market price of crude oil or natural gas, nor of refined products like gasoline and diesel fuel, and we have no tolerance for price gouging.”
Workers all over the world can only laugh out loud. The “market” is not some mysterious and all-powerful force that is independent of the class interests of the capitalist owners of the global oil industry. When the pandemic hit and demand sharply fell, the multinational oil giants slashed production, closed refineries and laid off tens of thousands of workers. While oil consumption will soon surpass pre-pandemic levels, production will not. The corporations are more than happy to reap massive profits while they work us to the bone and skyrocketing prices empty the pockets of working people. ”