Qualified employees are fleeing to Gazprom and NOVATEK
One of the largest oil and gas producing enterprises in the Russian Federation, Surgutneftegaz, risks a serious social conflict in the near future. Employees of the company’s division, Talakanneft, announced a large-scale crisis engulfing management. Social discontent may consist “in wage indexation that does not correspond to the realities of the time, widespread staff turnover, replaced by low-skilled labor, and the actual collapse of key departments.” At the same time, as employees emphasize, attempts to bring information about problems to immediate superiors remained unsuccessful; moreover, the voicing of sensitive topics was vetoed, apparently “under the threat of disciplinary sanctions.” Against the backdrop of a sharp decline in living standards and the ability to provide for families, personnel are migrating en masse to other enterprises, even local services, where the provision is at least as good as that of the industry giant. An initiative group of workers hopes to draw the attention of the general director and co-owner of Surgutneftegaz Vladimir Bogdanov to what is happening, as well as to involve an independent trade union in the labor conflict, however, there has not yet been any constructive feedback from the bosses, and previous attempts to achieve protection of their rights in court have been unsuccessful.
The team of NGDU Talakanneft, operator of the Talakanskoye oil and gas condensate field in the middle reaches of the Lena River in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), appealed to the general director of the parent enterprise of Surgutneftegaz PJSC Vladimir Bogdanov with a request to personally intervene in a large-scale industrial conflict regarding “wages, personnel policies and degradation of management.”
Let us clarify that the Talakanskoye field has been developed by Surgutneftegaz since the 2000s. The company invested about 65 billion rubles in its development (referring to official information) in 2008 prices.
Apparently, NGDU, which was considered an attractive place to work, is now experiencing a serious crisis. This follows from an appeal from employees, including middle managers, to the co-owner of Surgutneftegaz. One of the key topics in it is wages. The annual indexation of payments, the authors of the document emphasize, in no way covers inflation. Employees operate with official data.
Today, according to employees, the wage level lagging behind competing industry companies in the structure of Surgutneftegaz reaches 30-35%. In addition, unlike other enterprises, at Talakanneft the staff cannot count on paying shift workers for travel to and from their place of work. There is also no talk of social security, since the majority left the union due to the lack of any professional protection.
The places of qualified industry specialists are occupied by people “incapable of making independent decisions even within the framework of their competencies,” and even more so in situations that deviate from the normal flow of technological processes, which is fraught with serious negative consequences. Moreover, as the authors of the appeal emphasize, the Department of Technological Transport (UTD), which “does not cover even 70% of the needs of the production program,” has already actually collapsed.
It should be noted that the staff more than once tried to get answers to pressing questions from the immediate management of Talakanneft, in particular, the head of the oil and gas production department Vasily Parfiryev. The collective letter regarding travel costs for workers, referring to the authors of the appeal, “was ignored and no reaction other than silence followed.” Attempts to draw attention to deep personnel problems were “heard all questions to the management of PJSC and specifically to Vladimir Bogdanov.”
“Surgutneftegaz,” if we recall history, did not easily enter Yakutia in the 2000s. There were serious conflicts with the oil workers who worked before him, both with the population and with officials. As far as I know, the regional leadership was convinced, among other things, by guarantees of jobs for the residents of Sakha. Their share in Talakanneft is from 15 to 20%, but it turns out that they are in the same situation and are forced to look for new places to earn money,” shares the publication’s interlocutor in the oil and gas industry.
In the meantime, the staff, who have not achieved a reaction not only from the management of Talakanneft, but also from Surgutneftegaz itself, intends to take the conflict to the public plane and enlist the support of an independent trade union. Information about what is happening has already been communicated to the NP “Profsvoboda”.
