Tunisian workers fight British multinational

Tunisia's Ben Ali: dictator and western ally: here.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Jobless block gas firm’s office for two days

Sunday 15 May 2011

by Our Foreign Desk

Unemployed people blockaded staff inside the offices of British transnational BG Group for 48 hours over the weekend and blocked factory operations to press their demands that company hire local people instead of bringing in staff from elsewhere.

BG Group, Tunisia‘s largest natural gas producer, said that the site was cleared today after it threatened to temporarily shut all its plants in the country.

The firm did not say how it got rid of the protesters but insisted the process was peaceful.

A spokeswoman said the firm had already agreed to create 60 jobs for local workers and offer microcredits to residents, while acknowledging that disputes have persisted over how the loans and hiring are being carried out.

She added that “repeated blockades” had recently prevented employees and contractors from coming to “work normally.

“The repeated blockades seriously threaten the company’s ability to continue gas production and keep escalating in terms of frequency and threat levels,” she said, complaining that there was a “continued absence of support from the relevant authorities.”

Frustration over unemployment and corruption were at the heart of the protests that drove out Tunisia’s former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January.

BG Group is among Tunisia’s biggest foreign investors and claims that it produces more than 60 per cent of the country’s gas.

It was formed in 1997 when British Gas split into two companies – Centrica, dealing with British retail business, and BG Group, for exploration, production and overseas operations.

Tunisian regime creates electoral commission amid mass strikes: here.

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