Low salaries for local oil workers shock Coalition Govt.

Sep 24, 2019 News

Recent revelations that locals working on the Liza Destiny oil production platform were being paid a little more than minimum wage has not been welcomed by Government.

Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan

Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, during a radio interview on Kaieteur Radio last week was asked whether he is willing to intervene.
According to the minister, he is definitely not happy that locals were getting far less than what Trinidadians for example are getting in their country.
The Liza Destiny is the country’s first floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.
With promises of a better life and much talk about job creation, it was found that one company, run by foreign players, have been paying workers, including from laundry and cooking department just over $70,000 monthly.
Last week, local lawyer, Sanjeev Datadin announced that he was preparing to sue the local company which he said was operating like an employment agency, discriminating against Guyanese.
Glaringly, in one example, a cook on a normal emergency vessel in Trinidad could take home at least TT$15,000 (US$2,214) fortnightly. This is 12 times what one worker aboard a vessel in the offshore area in ExxonMobil’s oilfield is getting monthly ($70,000).
There are several cases similar in Guyana.
In this case, it is not a service vessel that is standing by next to the FPSO that the Guyanese workers are stationed.
Rather, it is on the Liza Destiny itself.
Kaieteur News was told that while ExxonMobil paid the contractor, these benefits are not passed on to workers. The workers were paid a fraction.
In fact, insiders say that comparisons to what persons working right in the region found shocking instances of how Guyanese workers are just not benefitting as expected.
Last Tuesday, Datadin announced that he was preparing to sue an oil service company, and possibly Exxon, after a client complained.
The employee said he is asked to stay one month aboard the ship and there are no allowances.
According to Datadin, in effect, the staffer is working 24 hours, as he has no way to come off the ship. He intends to have the court make a key ruling that will speak to how Guyanese oil workers are being paid.
Workers have also been complaining of having their WiFi cut after hours.
“We are being told to work 28 days and for a low pay. We have to service. Then you cut the WiFi. How can we talk to our families,” the worker asked.
According to Jordan, the entire Government apparatus will be paying attention, including from the labour side of things.

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