The energy transition in Colombia: curtailing employment rights?
- Cet article est une traduction de :
- Emploi ou environnement : la transition colombienne vers une économie décarbonnée à l’épreuve de l’exploitation pétrolière [fr]
Résumés
The Colombian government is faced with the dilemma of fully complying with the Paris agreements on climate change by reducing oil exploitation as much as possible, despite the fact that this action would entail the loss of many of the highest-paid jobs. In this context, the reforms proposed by the Government must harmonise environmental rights with the employment and rights of oil industry workers acquired over the years.
Entrées d’index
Mots-clés :
droits de l’environnement, emploi, droits du travail, réforme du travail, changement climatiquePlan
Haut de pageTexte intégral
- 1 J. P. Vargas Cuéllar, « MinMinas dice que no aprobará nuevos contratos de explotación de hidrocarbu (...)
- 2 A. De Juan Fernández, « El reto de una economía plenamente descarbonizada », Revista de Occidente, (...)
- 3 Portafolio, « Gobierno no dará nuevos contratos de exploración de petróleo y gas », Portafolio, no. (...)
1The current Colombian government has committed to implementing the Paris Agreement on « Climate Change » adopted on 4 November 20161. This announcement is part of a political agenda that has made environmental issues a real priority in Colombia. The transition to clean energies is also part of the measures implemented to achieve its medium-term objectives. The political agenda also includes the elimination of fossil fuels, mainly oil, as a primary energy source in order to move towards a « low-carbon economy »2. As part of this roadmap, the President of the Republic has decided to limit oil production by no longer granting oil exploration contracts3.
- 4 Ibid.
- 5 J. Pinzón Guevara, « Entre el petróleo y el medio ambiente: La lucha ambiental de la Corporación Re (...)
- 6 G. Juteau-Martineau et al., « Ambiente, petróleo y vulnerabilidad política en el oriente ecuatorian (...)
- 7 P. Balcombe et al., « How to decarbonise international shipping: Options for fuels, technologies an (...)
2The government sees reducing oil production as a way of contributing to the implementation of environmental laws4. This stance takes on a particular significance in the Colombian context, considering that there are constant tensions between the oil industry and indigenous communities5. These tensions, resulting from the necessary penetration of the oil companies in native territories. Furthermore, this industry affects the stability of the country’s forest regions, which are essential to the balance of the ecosystems, and therefore, the climate6. Moreover, the combustion of petroleum products for maritime transport alone7 releases 3.4 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.
- 8 A. L. Melo Becerra et al., « Effects of Booms and Oil Crisis on Colombian Economy: A Time-Varying V (...)
- 9 J. P. Vargas Cuéllar, « Hidrocarburos generan inversiones de hasta US$2.352 millones y 270.000 empl (...)
- 10 A. Romero and M. A. V. Colina, « Economía política del petróleo », Criterio Libre, vol. 28, no. 16, (...)
3And yet the Colombian paradox remains unresolved insofar as oil is of pivotal importance to the country’s economy8. As well as being its top export product, on average the oil industry generates 152,000 direct jobs per year9. In addition, working conditions in the sector are among the most favourable in the labour market, which has positioned it as the industry with the highest job stability rate10. For instance, the employees of the State-oil company are paid four times the Colombian minimum wage on average; industry workers also enjoy other benefits such as stable employment, food allowances help paying for education, rest or free time and health and safety protection. As far as collective bargaining is concerned, the oil industry is the only industry where the benefits in the collective agreement reached with the main contractor are also extended to the subcontractors’ workers. Thus, given the significant impact the government’s measures could have on employment in the oil industry, it becomes necessary to measure the true weight of this sector and their economic repercussions (I). The scale of the damage to the environment caused by oil drilling is therefore all the more significant (II). Furthermore, it is necessary to emphasise the considerable advances achieved by the workers in this industry thanks to collective bargaining, (III) which should pave the way for some necessary adjustments to the labour laws in Colombia in order to transform them into a set of genuine social regulations encompassing environmental rights (IV).
I - The economic weight of the oil industry in Colombia
- 11 D. Morales Soler, « La cruda verdad de los contratos petroleros en Colombia », Portafolio, no. 12, (...)
- 12 Département Administratif National des Statistiques - DANE, Rapport total d’exportations 2021.
- 13 Ibid.
- 14 N. Garzón, « Importancia de la exportación de petróleo en Colombia », Legis, no. 8, 2022.
- 15 Ibid.
4The Colombian economic model is mainly extraction-based11. In 2021, oil sales accounted for 33.31 % of the total volume of the country’s exports12. Thus, out of a total of $US 57 billion of exports recorded in 2021, 19 billion came from oil and its derivatives13. Oil is therefore the top export product bringing in foreign currency14. Two other products - whose effects on climate are well known - rank second and third place in the export table: coal, which represents $12 billion in sales, and coffee, which brings in just under $4 billion15 in sales.
- 16 A. Romero and M. A. V. Colina, « Economía política del petróleo », op. cit., p. 140.
- 17 Bogota Chamber of Commerce, Dinámica de las exportaciones colombianas, 2019-2022 report, Bogotá D.C (...)
- 18 International Energy Agency IEA, Word energy balances: Database documentation, IEA, Paris, 2022, p. (...)
- 19 IEA, Key energy statistics, 2020.
5Globally, Colombia ranks 19th among petroleum-exporting countries16. Although in volume terms it falls far behind the countries at the top of the list, such as the United States and Saudi Arabia17, the fact remains that, according to the figures of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Colombian oil production reached a cumulative level in 2021 equivalent to 660,355 terajoules18. Again, according to the IEA, the energy produced by petroleum produced in Colombia represents more than double that produced by coal or hydroelectric dams19.
- 20 J. C. Echeverry, « Sin petróleo, economía se contraería 3,3 %: ¿qué tan viable es? », Portafolio, (...)
- 21 J. P. Jiménez Perilla, « El impacto de los precios del petróleo sobre el crecimiento económico en C (...)
- 22 Ibid.
6In total, annual oil production reached 3.3 % of Colombia’s GDP20. But this percentage does not reflect the inequalities between regions. In fact, the greatest impact is mostly felt only in certain regions21. For example, 47.25 % of the GDP of the department of Meta depends on minerals, including petroleum. In the department of Casanare, this contribution reaches 42.44 %; in Arauca 37.85 %; and 23.41 % for Putumayo. By contrast, the impact is much lower in other regions, representing only 6.05 % in Huila and 3.62 % in Santander22.
- 23 J. P. Vargas Cuéllar, « MinMinas dice que no aprobará nuevos contratos de explotación de hidrocarbu (...)
- 24 OIT, Fortalecer el Servicio Público de Empleo en Colombia para promover los empleos verdes y una tr (...)
7In terms of employment, in 2022 the activities of the liquid fuel supply chain generated 152,000 direct and 120,000 indirect jobs in the State-owned company – Ecopetrol - , whose operations are spread throughout the country23. In addition, in the hydrocarbon sector, only the public employment system operates in Colombia, representing 77,356 jobs in 2019 alone24.
- 25 Banco Mundial, Fondo Monetario Internacional, Anuario de Estadísticas de las Finanzas Públicas y ar (...)
8To sum up, oil production is currently the country’s main source of income. A reduction in oil output would therefore lead to a serious deterioration of public finances, further exacerbating the budget deficit and Colombia’s debt to the international banks25. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that this industry is causing severe social and environmental damage.
II - The social and environmental damage caused by the oil industry
- 26 P. Collazos-Bascopé, « La Pachamama », Archipiélago, Revista cultural de Nuestra América, México, n (...)
9American indigenous communities do not see the Earth as merely a repository of resources. For them, the Earth is the Pachamama, which Collazos describes thus: « Pachamama: lineage of lineages (…), you eclipse us with your goodness »26. For the indigenous communities, the Pachamama is considered as the revelation of life, a divinity. It is a supreme and superior being which protects and facilitates humans’ passage through the world. In this sense, the extraction of fossil fuels wounds the divinity by affecting the environment of the mountains, valleys and rivers that make up the identity of the tribal peoples.
- 27 A. R. Waxman et al., « Emissions in the stream: estimating the greenhouse gas impacts of an oil and (...)
10To grasp the scale of the oil industry’s impact on the environment it is necessary to consider the three stages of oil production27: the first encompasses exploration and production activities, also known as the upstream sector; the second phase includes transportation and storage, and the final phase concerns consumption.
- 28 J. Saxe-Fernández, « Recursos naturales e imperio: El caso del petróleo mexicano », Nueva Sociedad, (...)
- 29 D. A. Amado and Y. A. Loaiza, « La corrupción extractiva en Colombia 2000-2011 », Apuntes Del CENES(...)
11During the first phase, oil deposits are located by satellite and seismic surveys. This phase involves penetrating into isolated regions inhabited by communities used to a calm, entirely rural environment. Seismic exploration methods use explosive charges, which when exploited in a controlled way allow geologists to map tectonic plates and the locations of deposits28. Although in the Colombian context there is no scientific proof of the negative effects of these explosions on the environment, there are those who say that they cause serious damage to water sources and forest ecosystems29.
- 30 G. C. Delgado Ramos, « Petróleo, medio ambiente, cambio climático y seguridad: macondo, otra advert (...)
12Then the product stage involves the construction of pipeline networks and pumping stations to transport the crude oil to a port for export by ship or to a refinery. After that, once in the refineries, the crude oil is treated to extract its multiple byproducts: petrol, diesel fuel, jet fuel for aircraft; naphthalene, engine lubricants; polyurethanes, paraffins, etc.30.
- 31 V. S. Radovich, « Petróleo y gas en el mar. regulación ambiental en la república Argentina », Revis (...)
- 32 D. Bellorio Clabot, L. Cavalli and Pigretti, Ambiente, Petróleo y Gas, Buenos Aires, Lojuane, 2011.
- 33 A. Mccrea-Strub et al., « Potential impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on commercial fisheri (...)
13When exploration and production take place offshore, the work directly affects corals and the habitats of fish, mammals and algae31. Exploration involves the rupturing of the seabed and its penetration by steel pipes and drilling tools. In addition, the companies use chemicals such as anti-sludge agents, corrosion inhibitors, foamers, iron control agents, hydrochloric acid and ammonium bifluoride, to name but a few32. Thus, the oil operations themselves cause serious damage to ocean ecosystems. Furthermore, these operations represent a permanent risk of accidents, such as the Deepwater oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico of 2010 which led to 779,000 tonnes of crude oil being spilled causing a historic oil slick33.
- 34 M. Torres Ladino and F. Caldón Femayo, « Producción de petróleo en Arauca ¿desarrollo o destrucción (...)
- 35 Ibid., p. 29.
14In Colombia, the indigenous populations in the Arauca region are, to say the least, directly impacted, as they are victims of threats when they are not outright displaced. Such practices were reported during production operations during the 1980s34. According to the communities, the oil company OXY did in fact enter their territories with the help of law enforcement, damaging the forest, the fauna, and their livelihoods in the process, and causing them to flee to other regions35.
- 36 F. Barthélémy, « Les routes contestées du pétrole équatorien », Le Monde Diplomatique, June 2003, p (...)
15The Ecuadorian forest area has also suffered from the exploitation of hydrocarbons by the State-oil company CEPE (now known as Petroecuador) and the American company Texaco (now known as Chevron). The province of Sucumbíos has been the arena of the destruction of the Amazonian ecosystem. Today, this environmental wrongdoing is having social repercussions: the region is now overrun by poverty and subject to rampant inflation. Most of its inhabitants, indigenous people and peasants, do not have access to eitherdrinking water nor electricity. The water sources, the air, and the vegetation have been contaminated with by-products from the petroleum industry. Traces of hydrocarbons left by numerous spills can still be seen on the roads, which are in a state of such disrepair as to be barely usable. The inhabitants suffer from different forms of cancer and respiratory diseases. Exploration has led to the loss of thousands of acres of tropical forest. The considerable profits made by these companies are in stark contrast to the poverty and precarious living conditions now faced by the population36.
16That being the case, the risk-benefit balance of the oil industry is clearly skewed. The above-mentioned economic gains have been accompanied by far-reaching environmental damage due to the exploration, production and transportation activities of the hydrocarbon industry. The environmental pollution generated by the combustion of these products for energy production, as well as the use of air, land and sea vehicles, has been dramatic. The most severe damage is inflicted on communities whose territories and livelihoods are affected by the exploitation of fossil minerals. The disaster is not only environmental; it is also social.
III - Buying social peace through collective bargaining at Ecopetrol
- 37 M. Watts, « Petro-violence community extraction and political ecology of a mythic commodity », in M (...)
17Oil exploration and production in Colombia take place within a framework of concession contracts. These are contracts by which the national government grants rights to carry out such activities in certain areas of the country37. The company, most often a foreign company, in return is granted the possibility of extracting oil for a period that can be up to 20 years. There is also a company with a majority public shareholding, -Ecopetrol-, which is involved in all the exploration and production processes and has stakes in crude oil transportation and refining companies.
18The clauses of concession contracts are ambivalent: on the one hand, the contracts contain clauses on social and environmental issues; on the other, due to the rules on international investment, they limit the possibilities for recognising social and environmental rights if those rights have an impact on the concession contract.
- 38 L. M. Triana Chacón et al., Política laboral de Ecopetrol en su proceso de revelación y materializa (...)
- 39 A. Vásquez Quintero, Sector minero - energético en colombiano: comportamiento empresarial, diagnóst (...)
- 40 ENS, Sistema de información laboral y sindical, reporte a junio de 2017, ENS, Medellín, 2018, p. 14 (...)
19On the employment front, the employees of the oil industry, in both the national and foreign companies, enjoy privileged conditions compared to other workers in the country. Thus, they are actually able to exercise rights relating to freedom of association and collective bargaining. The unionisation rate and the scale of bargaining in this sector is significant. Trade union membership numbers are therefore high, and coverage by collective agreements is widespread38. The latest studies on unionisation in the mining and energy sector in Colombia show that union membership at Ecopetrol has reached 23.62 % of the workforce39, whereas in other sectors, it averages 2.95 %40.
- 41 USO, La fundación de la sociedad unión obrera, USO, 2009: http://www.usofrenteobrero.org/index.php/ (...)
- 42 Ibid.
- 43 Ibid., (quoted in V. Tobón Perilla, Droit du travail et sous-traitance : une approche de droits col (...)
20The main organisation, the Workers’ Trade Union (Unión de Trabajadores de Colombia – « USO »), was created on 12 February 192341. It is currently the trade union with the largest membership in the country. At the time it was created as a body of workers who could stand up to the constant threats and harassment they faced from the American management of the Tropical Oil Company, and to provide them with protection against the precarious conditions in which they were often required to work. One of the company’s executives, W. H. Dawnies, even went as far as to state publicly that « the Colombians deserved nothing other than to be slaves »42. In any case, at that time, technological aids were very limited, the hostile environmental conditions of the areas in which these workers did their jobs increased their work hazards, while the oil industry operated virtually without any control on the part of the state authorities43.
- 44 Ecopetrol, Nuestra historia, Bogotá, 2014: https://www.ecopetrol.com.co/wps/portal/Home/es/NuestraE (...)
- 45 P. Jalette, « Les relations professionnelles à l’heure de la pénurie de main-d’œuvre », Chronique I (...)
21Oil drilling was transformed by the arrival on the scene of a Colombian company, Ecopetrol, in 195144. Created when a concession granted to an American firm came to an end, this public enterprise continued the exploitation of the oil fields included in the « De Mares concession ». The working conditions determined between the workers and the American company at the time were maintained by Ecopetrol. Although the labour shortage in Colombia prevented the development of an industrial trade union of the type that exists in the United States45, there is no denying that Ecopetrol and the petroleum industry workers’ union – USO - nevertheless managed to become an exception, in part thanks to the bargaining system already introduced by the American Tropical Oil Company.
- 46 Ecopetrol, Collective agreement July 2018 - December 2022, Ecopetrol-USO, 2022: https://ail.ens.org (...)
22The Colombian company and the union also adopted the bargaining model in all the collective agreements signed until then. Thus, the collective agreement in force today covers multiple aspects such as the workers’ clothing and gear, which depends on the weather conditions of their worksite, education benefits for employees and their children, food stipends, health protection, leisure activities. By way of an example, we can mention the fact that the children of Ecopetrol workers benefit from the reimbursement of their tuition fees in secondary schools, both public and private, as well as universities, under Article 32 of the collective agreement in force at Ecopetrol46.
- 47 Ecopetrol, Collective labour agreement in force in the years 1952-1953.
23In addition, one of the most important aspects of the collective labour agreements concerns the use of subcontractors, insofar as they not only restrict the possibilities for using them, but they also restrict subcontracting to activities such as the assembly and maintenance of equipment during the supplier’s warranty period, certain specialised production tasks, and the storage and transportation of oil and its byproducts. That being the case, all the other main oil industry activities must be carried out directly by the company and its workers. The agreement nevertheless provides for the possibility, in the event of a shortage of staff, of certain exploration and drilling tasks being performed through subcontractors47.
- 48 Ibid., p. 120.
- 49 Ibid., p. 165, § 2; Supreme Court of Justice, Labour Chamber, judgment of 3 July 2019, no. 2392-201 (...)
- 50 Supreme Court of Justice, Labour Chamber, judgment of 16 October 2019, no. 4762-2019.
- 51 Ibid., p. 14.
24In social and environmental matters, the Ecopetrol collective agreement provides, in Article 142, that the company will provide financial support to regional development projects in these two areas48. It also specifies that the company must require contractors and suppliers to adapt their contractual conditions to the general conditions directly established with employed workers49. In other words, subcontractors’ workers must benefit from the same conditions in terms of pay and benefits as Ecopetrol’s own employees. Subcontractors’ workers thus become indirect beneficiaries of the collective agreement. The collective agreement also provides that the failure of subcontracting companies to comply with this requirement of providing equal conditions would lead to the trade union taking legal action against Ecopetrol50. To sum up, the collective agreements prohibit Ecopetrol from subcontracting the company’s regular activities and impose on subcontractors the same pay and benefits conditions as those of direct workers51.
- 52 Government of Colombia, Decree no. 284 of November 1957 « Por el cual se dictan normas sobre salari (...)
25Moreover, Decree no. 284 of 7 November 1957 extended the conditions on subcontracting in Colombia to all the companies in the sector, whether they are involved in oil exploration, production, transportation or refining52. This decree provided that the workers of the independent companies that carry out « essential » work consistent with the corporate purpose of Ecopetrol must benefit from the same pay and benefits as those granted to Ecopetrol’s employees, in accordance with the laws and collective agreements in force, in each period and in each region. The text specifies that the activities linked to the essential activities of Ecopetrol are exploration, production, transportation, refining, geological and geophysical field work, drilling, the storage of hydrocarbons, as well as the construction, operation and maintenance of refineries and oil pipelines.
26In addition, in accordance with national standards and the agreements signed by Ecopetrol and its workers, if the contractor employer is unable to meet its obligations to its workers, Ecopetrol is placed in the position of guarantor, forcing the latter to make the payment in place of the subcontractor, and then seek compensation, within the limits fixed by each contract between Ecopetrol and the defaulting contractor.
- 53 Supreme Court, judgment of 23 January 2019, no. CSJ SL199-2019.
- 54 Ibid., p. 12.
27The bargaining conducted within Ecopetrol has been able to serve as a model for labour relations in the oil sector. The oil workers’ union – USO - has signed agreements with other companies in the sector, with the result that their workers enjoy the same prerogatives as those of Ecopetrol. One example is the company Occidental de Colombia LLC, which holds the concession for the oil fields in the Arauca region53. In 2011, the American company signed a collective agreement with USO levelling up the conditions in the oil sector. The agreement says that its provisions apply « to all workers carrying out daily activities for the company Occidental de Colombia LLC, including the staff of subcontractors ». The agreement also provides that the company « undertakes to impose compliance with the provisions agreed on all subcontractors ». In other words, in the oil sector, contractors cannot hire workers on the basis of less favourable pay and working conditions. The oil companies therefore cannot rely on subcontracting to reduce their labour costs54.
- 55 A. Otero-Cortés and E. Acosta-Ariza, « Desigualdades en el mercado laboral urbano-rural en Colombia (...)
- 56 M. Urrutia, « Las relaciones industriales en Ecopetrol », Revista de economía institucional, vol. 3 (...)
28The importance of the oil industry in the Colombian economy, combined with the fact that the main production companies are foreign, and the hazardous conditions in which the activities take place encompass so many factors, have allowed the industry’s workers to have greater benefits than the average for other workers in the country55. These advantages are the result of the collective bargaining initiated back in 1923 by the unions, in particular, the USO56. That is why the replacement or reduction of the oil industry in Colombia is leading to a significant drop in formal and quality employment in the country. Collective bargaining and environmental protection are now following divergent paths, to say the least. In a way, the social peace in the oil industry has helped to ward off criticism of the societal and environmental impacts of its activities.
IV - Necessary adjustments: from labour laws for a carbon-based economy to socially and environmentally responsible legislation
- 57 B. Keene, « La deuda con nuestros derechos humanos económicos, sociales y culturales », Utopia y Pr (...)
- 58 J. Z. Bonilla, « Debilidad institucional y políticas extractivistas en américa latina en el siglo X (...)
29Colombia, like other countries in South America, has a historical debt with regard to the guaranteeing of social and environmental rights57. The scale of the informal sector, the scarcity of economic resources, political corruption, an economy based essentially on extractive industries and agriculture, along with and underdeveloped infrastructure, are all factors that have held back Colombia’s attaining of a minimum level of social rights and environmental protection58. In particular, Colombia’s situation is exacerbated by an ongoing internal armed conflict and the spread of illicit economies.
- 59 A. Supiot, Informe final sobre las transformaciones del trabajo y los cambios del derecho del traba (...)
30In this context, traditional labour standards and the conventional employment contract model are proving inadequate in the face of the appearance of new forms of employment and the economic constraints weighing on the country59. Indeed, the Colombian Labour Code does not contain any provisions for dealing with the consequences of illegal work. Nor are there any rules for combating the abuses in outsourcing relationships established in Colombia since the passing of Law no. 50 of 28 December 1990. Likewise, there are no specific legal obligations pertaining to environmental balance or liability for damage caused to ecosystems by production activities.
- 60 Parliament of the Republic of Colombia, Reforma laboral, text presented by the government, bill no. (...)
- 61 F. Hylton and A. Tauss, « Colombia en tiempos de Petro », Nueva Sociedad, no. 305, 2023, p. 74: htt (...)
- 62 A. J. Millán, « Colombia: Una nueva gramática del poder », Nueva Sociedad, no. 303, 2023, p. 98.
- 63 Parliament of the Republic of Colombia, Reforma laboral, op. cit., Art. 43.
31The Colombian government recently submitted a labour reform to Congress60. The bill aims to reintroduce certain workers’ rights which have been lost over the years, and combat informality61. In this respect, the government is looking to expand the current framework for redundancy pay, increase overtime pay and improve job stability62. To combat informality, the reform focuses on new forms of working, in particular those that take place on digital platforms63.
- 64 L. Gamboa, « Incertidumbre y oposición: La derecha ante el gobierno de Gustavo Petro », Nueva Socie (...)
- 65 A. Ham, D. Maldonado and C. S. Guzmán-Gutiérrez, « Recent trends in the youth labor market in Colom (...)
32However, this bill has some serious shortcomings64. Concerning the energy transition, the labour reform proposed by the government does not include a strategy for countering the negative effects on employment that would result from a drop in oil production. On the environmental front, there are also no provisions to encourage the preservation of water resources or the tropical forests65. In other words, apart from a few positive developments, the Colombian government has not managed to overcome the contradiction between labour laws founded on a carbon-based economy, the protection of the environment, and the indigenous populations.
- 66 Organization of American States - OAS, Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Righ (...)
- 67 Ibid., art. 9.
- 68 Ibid., art. 13, 16 and 17.
- 69 Ibid., art. 11.
33However, the binding obligations of the Colombian State as a party to the Protocol of San Salvador, require it to set up mechanisms to allow the country to make significant progress on guaranteeing social and environmental rights66. To comply with this international instrument, Colombia must therefore provide economic benefits to those who, due to their old age, widowed status or poor health, are unable to secure the means for a dignified and decent existence67. It also has to guarantee decent work and proper health, housing and education conditions68. Likewise, Article 11 of the Protocol provides that everyone should have the right to live in a healthy environment and to have access to « basic public services ». This stresses the States’ commitment to the preservation and improvement of the environment69.
- 70 J. Núñez Leiva, « Estado constitucional de derecho y ponderación: hacia la superación de la falsa d (...)
- 71 M. F. Suárez, « Los principios del derecho del trabajo: Fundamento y actualidad del principio prote (...)
34The Colombian State could find itself in a situation where it is failing to comply with its international obligations if it goes ahead with the reduction of hydrocarbon production activities without providing for additional measures to protect the jobs in this sector. Similarly, Colombia is failing to meet its commitments under the Protocol of San Salvador, which aim at progressively guaranteeing social rights to the population and taking measures to preserve the oceans, water sources and the Amazon rainforest. To sum up, we can only talk of the Colombian State complying with its obligations if reforms are created to encompass social and environmental rights in a harmonious way70. Labour law, in terms of its protective purpose, cannot be unaffected by the changes generated by the implementation of environmental policies71.
Conclusion
35The labour reform envisaged in Colombia must include an alignment of its legislation in order to meet the international obligations in the areas of social and environmental rights. In addition, this reform would be incomplete if it did not include support mechanisms in favour of the workers who would lose their jobs following the reduction of the activities of the oil industry.
36As we can see, Colombia’s transition towards a low-carbon economy is a textbook case. Oil production has the particularity of having sustained the Colombian economy for decades, at the same time destroying the environment and plunging local populations into poverty. Is a labour reform a solution? There is no easy answer. The labour law of a carbon-based economy contains real ambiguities. The oil industry is in fact founded on an unspoken pact. Its ill effects have in a way been paid for (bought off...) by collective bargaining, which has led to generous benefits and protection systems for the workers in this sector. Certain employees and trade unions have benefited from the situation. Finding a way out of the employment versus environment dilemma is therefore going to be complex.
37While it is true that mechanisms will have to be introduced to replace the use and extraction of fossil fuels, the fact remains that the transition must operate in favour of employment and workers’ rights if it wants to avoid encountering obstacles that are difficult to overcome. The government is facing a major challenge: to ensure that it meets its environmental and social obligations, whilst also achieving its goals in the area of reducing global warming, without neglecting social and labour rights, which are also part of the country’s international commitments.
Notes
1 J. P. Vargas Cuéllar, « MinMinas dice que no aprobará nuevos contratos de explotación de hidrocarburos », La Republica, no. 2, January 2023, p. 3.
2 A. De Juan Fernández, « El reto de una economía plenamente descarbonizada », Revista de Occidente, no. 485, 2021, p. 9.
3 Portafolio, « Gobierno no dará nuevos contratos de exploración de petróleo y gas », Portafolio, no. 407, January 2023, p. 2.
4 Ibid.
5 J. Pinzón Guevara, « Entre el petróleo y el medio ambiente: La lucha ambiental de la Corporación Regional Yariguíes-GEAM en Barrancabermeja », Colombia, Clivatge, no. 2, 2021, p. 33.
6 G. Juteau-Martineau et al., « Ambiente, petróleo y vulnerabilidad política en el oriente ecuatoriano: ¿hacia nuevas formas de gobernanza energética? », América Latina hoy, no. 67, Universidad de Salamanca, 2014, p 119.
7 P. Balcombe et al., « How to decarbonise international shipping: Options for fuels, technologies and policies », Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 182, 15 February 2019, p. 73.
8 A. L. Melo Becerra et al., « Effects of Booms and Oil Crisis on Colombian Economy: A Time-Varying Vector Autoregressive Approach », Revista de Economía del Rosario, no. 23, vol. 1, p. 31.
9 J. P. Vargas Cuéllar, « Hidrocarburos generan inversiones de hasta US$2.352 millones y 270.000 empleos », La República, no. 14, April 2023, p. 7.
10 A. Romero and M. A. V. Colina, « Economía política del petróleo », Criterio Libre, vol. 28, no. 16, 2018, p. 133.
11 D. Morales Soler, « La cruda verdad de los contratos petroleros en Colombia », Portafolio, no. 12, March 2023.
12 Département Administratif National des Statistiques - DANE, Rapport total d’exportations 2021.
13 Ibid.
14 N. Garzón, « Importancia de la exportación de petróleo en Colombia », Legis, no. 8, 2022.
15 Ibid.
16 A. Romero and M. A. V. Colina, « Economía política del petróleo », op. cit., p. 140.
17 Bogota Chamber of Commerce, Dinámica de las exportaciones colombianas, 2019-2022 report, Bogotá D.C., 2023.
18 International Energy Agency IEA, Word energy balances: Database documentation, IEA, Paris, 2022, p. 53.
19 IEA, Key energy statistics, 2020.
20 J. C. Echeverry, « Sin petróleo, economía se contraería 3,3 %: ¿qué tan viable es? », Portafolio, no. 41, November 2021.
21 J. P. Jiménez Perilla, « El impacto de los precios del petróleo sobre el crecimiento económico en Colombia », Revista de Economía del Rosario, vol. 1, no. 13, June 2010, p. 75.
22 Ibid.
23 J. P. Vargas Cuéllar, « MinMinas dice que no aprobará nuevos contratos de explotación de hidrocarburos », op. cit., p. 7.
24 OIT, Fortalecer el Servicio Público de Empleo en Colombia para promover los empleos verdes y una transición justa, ILO, Bogotá D.C., 2021, p. 18.
25 Banco Mundial, Fondo Monetario Internacional, Anuario de Estadísticas de las Finanzas Públicas y archivos de datos, y estimaciones del PIB del Banco Mundial y the OCDE, World Bank, Databank, 2021.
26 P. Collazos-Bascopé, « La Pachamama », Archipiélago, Revista cultural de Nuestra América, México, no. 62, October-December 2008, p. 33.
27 A. R. Waxman et al., « Emissions in the stream: estimating the greenhouse gas impacts of an oil and gas boom », Environmental Research Letters, vol. 1, no. 15, p. 10.
28 J. Saxe-Fernández, « Recursos naturales e imperio: El caso del petróleo mexicano », Nueva Sociedad, no. 199, p. 12.
29 D. A. Amado and Y. A. Loaiza, « La corrupción extractiva en Colombia 2000-2011 », Apuntes Del CENES, vol. 67, no. 38, 2019, p. 227 : https://doi.org/10.19053/01203053.v38.n67.2019.8210
30 G. C. Delgado Ramos, « Petróleo, medio ambiente, cambio climático y seguridad: macondo, otra advertencia más », Nómadas, vol. 2, no. 30, p. 5.
31 V. S. Radovich, « Petróleo y gas en el mar. regulación ambiental en la república Argentina », Revista de la Facultad de Derecho de la UPB, vol. 125, no. 46, p. 261.
32 D. Bellorio Clabot, L. Cavalli and Pigretti, Ambiente, Petróleo y Gas, Buenos Aires, Lojuane, 2011.
33 A. Mccrea-Strub et al., « Potential impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on commercial fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico », Fisheries, vol. 7, no. 36, 2011, p. 332.
34 M. Torres Ladino and F. Caldón Femayo, « Producción de petróleo en Arauca ¿desarrollo o destrucción? », Revista Territorio y Desarrollo, vol. 2, no. 3, 2019, p. 22.
35 Ibid., p. 29.
36 F. Barthélémy, « Les routes contestées du pétrole équatorien », Le Monde Diplomatique, June 2003, p. 24,
37 M. Watts, « Petro-violence community extraction and political ecology of a mythic commodity », in M. Watts and N. Lee Peluso, Violent environments, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, New York, 2001, p. 189.
38 L. M. Triana Chacón et al., Política laboral de Ecopetrol en su proceso de revelación y materialización de información, doctoral thesis, Universidad Javeriana, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Administrativas, Bogotá D.C., 2011, p. 44.
39 A. Vásquez Quintero, Sector minero - energético en colombiano: comportamiento empresarial, diagnóstico laboral y Sindical, ENS, Documentos de Escuela, no. 105, Medellín, 2016, p. 16.
40 ENS, Sistema de información laboral y sindical, reporte a junio de 2017, ENS, Medellín, 2018, p. 14: https://www.ens.org.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/SISLAB-junio-2017.pdf#page=9&zoom=100,0,0
41 USO, La fundación de la sociedad unión obrera, USO, 2009: http://www.usofrenteobrero.org/index.php/el-sindicato/historia
42 Ibid.
43 Ibid., (quoted in V. Tobón Perilla, Droit du travail et sous-traitance : une approche de droits colombien, international et comparé, thesis, 2021, p. 376).
44 Ecopetrol, Nuestra historia, Bogotá, 2014: https://www.ecopetrol.com.co/wps/portal/Home/es/NuestraEmpresa/QuienesSomos/NuestraHistoria#:~:text=La %20reversi %C3 %B3n %20al %20Estado %20Colombiano,la %20Empresa %20Colombiana %20de %20Petr %C3 %B3leos
45 P. Jalette, « Les relations professionnelles à l’heure de la pénurie de main-d’œuvre », Chronique Internationale de l’IRES, no. 181, 2023, p. 3: https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/les-relations-professionnelles-à-lheure-de-la/docview/2794896557/se-2
46 Ecopetrol, Collective agreement July 2018 - December 2022, Ecopetrol-USO, 2022: https://ail.ens.org.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/10/Convenci %C3 %B3n-Colectiva-de-trabajo-USO-Ecopetrol-2018-2022-.pdf
47 Ecopetrol, Collective labour agreement in force in the years 1952-1953.
48 Ibid., p. 120.
49 Ibid., p. 165, § 2; Supreme Court of Justice, Labour Chamber, judgment of 3 July 2019, no. 2392-2019.
50 Supreme Court of Justice, Labour Chamber, judgment of 16 October 2019, no. 4762-2019.
51 Ibid., p. 14.
52 Government of Colombia, Decree no. 284 of November 1957 « Por el cual se dictan normas sobre salarios y prestaciones de los trabajadores de contratistas a precio fijo, en empresas de petróleos », Official Journal, no. 29552, 4 December 1957, p. 2.
53 Supreme Court, judgment of 23 January 2019, no. CSJ SL199-2019.
54 Ibid., p. 12.
55 A. Otero-Cortés and E. Acosta-Ariza, « Desigualdades en el mercado laboral urbano-rural en Colombia, 2010-2019 », CS Ciencias Sociales, Suppl. Número Especial, 2022, p. 177: https://doi.org/10.18046/ recs.iEspecial.4939
56 M. Urrutia, « Las relaciones industriales en Ecopetrol », Revista de economía institucional, vol. 34, no. 18, Bogotá D.C., 2016, p. 303.
57 B. Keene, « La deuda con nuestros derechos humanos económicos, sociales y culturales », Utopia y Praxis Latinoamericana, vol. 13, no. 25, 2020, p. 58.
58 J. Z. Bonilla, « Debilidad institucional y políticas extractivistas en américa latina en el siglo XXI. análisis de la deforestación y los conflictos medioambientales en Bolivia, Brasil y Colombia », Estudios De Derecho, vol. 174, no. 79, 2022, p. 13: https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.esde.v79n174a01
59 A. Supiot, Informe final sobre las transformaciones del trabajo y los cambios del derecho del trabajo en Europa, F. Goldfus [trans.], Montevideo, 2009, p. 1; A. Todolí-Signes, El Contrato De Trabajo En El S. XXI: La Economía Colaborativa, On-Demand Economy, Crowdsourcing, Uber Economy Y Otras Formas De Descentralización Productiva Que Atomizan El Mercado De Trabajo (Employment Contract at the XXI Century. The Sharing Economy On-Demand Economy, Crowdsourcing, Uber Economy, and Other Kinds of Outsourcing at the Labour Market), 2 November 2015, p. 18 : https://ssrn.com/abstract=2705402
60 Parliament of the Republic of Colombia, Reforma laboral, text presented by the government, bill no. 317 of 2023.
61 F. Hylton and A. Tauss, « Colombia en tiempos de Petro », Nueva Sociedad, no. 305, 2023, p. 74: https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/colombia-en-tiempos-de-petro/docview/2827996948/se-2
62 A. J. Millán, « Colombia: Una nueva gramática del poder », Nueva Sociedad, no. 303, 2023, p. 98.
63 Parliament of the Republic of Colombia, Reforma laboral, op. cit., Art. 43.
64 L. Gamboa, « Incertidumbre y oposición: La derecha ante el gobierno de Gustavo Petro », Nueva Sociedad, no. 305, 2023, p. 136: https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/incertidumbre-y-oposición-la-derecha-ante-el/docview/2827987188/se-2
65 A. Ham, D. Maldonado and C. S. Guzmán-Gutiérrez, « Recent trends in the youth labor market in Colombia: Diagnosis and policy challenges », IZA Journal of Labor Policy, vol. 1, no. 11, 2021, p. 3: https://doi.org/ 10.2478/izajolp-2021-0007
66 Organization of American States - OAS, Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights « Protocol of San Salvador », adopted in San Salvador on 17 November 1988, at the eighteenth regular session of the General Assembly.
67 Ibid., art. 9.
68 Ibid., art. 13, 16 and 17.
69 Ibid., art. 11.
70 J. Núñez Leiva, « Estado constitucional de derecho y ponderación: hacia la superación de la falsa disyuntiva entre libertad y satisfacción de los derechos sociales fundamentales », Universitas, no. 128, 2014, p. 153: https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.VJ128.ecdp
71 M. F. Suárez, « Los principios del derecho del trabajo: Fundamento y actualidad del principio protector », Cuadernos De Relaciones Laborales, vol. 2, no. 40, 2022, p. 413: https://doi.org/10.5209/crla.75945
Haut de pagePour citer cet article
Référence papier
Vladimir Tobón Perilla, « The energy transition in Colombia: curtailing employment rights? », Revue de droit comparé du travail et de la sécurité sociale, 4 | 2023, 66-77.
Référence électronique
Vladimir Tobón Perilla, « The energy transition in Colombia: curtailing employment rights? », Revue de droit comparé du travail et de la sécurité sociale [En ligne], 4 | 2023, mis en ligne le 31 décembre 2024, consulté le 14 mai 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/rdctss/6747 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/rdctss.6747
Haut de pageDroits d’auteur
Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont « Tous droits réservés », sauf mention contraire.
Haut de page