Oil workers maintain pumps outside Baku, Azerbaijan, October 6 (above). More than 1,000 oil workers employed by the U.S. firm McDermott Caspian Contractors Inc. struck for 24 hours November 22, occupying the company’s fabrication plant south of Baku. The workers install pipelines and build offshore oil rigs for British Petroleum. Workers are demanding a pay increase, health care, disability compensation, and the right to organize a union. An Azerbaijani worker is paid $150 to $200, while employees from other countries are paid $2,500 to $3,000 for the same work, one of the strikers told an Azerbaijani news outlet.  
 
 
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