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Oil companies must not prohibit employees from becoming unionized- Labour Minister
Minister of Labor, Joseph Hamilton
Kaieteur News – The Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, has made it clear that oil companies and their sub-contractors which are operating in Guyana, must not prohibit their employees from becoming unionized, as doing so would be against the laws of Guyana.
It was during an engagement with the press last Friday, Minister Hamilton highlighted to the press that he has received reports of discrimination and overworking without compensation on the oil platforms offshore Guyana. In detail, he indicated that these employees have reported that they were being underpaid for the same jobs expatriates were doing, as well as working 12 hours a day, exclusive of overtime.
To this the minister said, “I said to ExxonMobil when they were here that I believe that they have the responsibility to speak to their contractors that they bring into the space, to ensure that they must facilitate workers forming unionizations, or unions if they care to. I will continue to fight for all and sundry on those matters.”
Notably, Kaieteur News had published reports last year in which TotalTec, an oil services company, has prohibited their employees from joining or forming unions. Disgruntled by this, head of the Guyana Trade Unions Congress (GTUC) Lincoln Lewis had asked the government, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) to intervene but nothing was done.
The Labour Minister had also pointed out that the Ministry of Labour currently lacks the capacity and expertise to dispatch Labour Officers and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) officers to the oilrigs. Once there, these officers would be charged with identifying labour issues, and would report them back to the authorities, following which it would act.
However, those officers are currently under training, Hamilton pointed out.
“That conversation continues,” the Minister said. “We have a joint technical committee that is the ministry with ExxonMobil and also with AmCham that continue to discuss these issues.”
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