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Guyanese workers complain of being fed leftovers, mistreated on oil ship
Kaieteur News – Guyanese cleaners, dish washers and laundry staff working on ExxonMobil’s Floating Production Storage and Offloading Vessels (FPSOs) offshore Guyana are complaining of being mistreated and fed leftovers by their foreign bosses.
A local worker on an FPSO operating offshore Guyana.
One of those workers (name provided) reached out to Kaieteur News last week to voice what she described as unfair treatment by the American oil giant.
ExxonMobil does not employ workers directly but via a subcontractor that recruits employees for the company.
The laundry staff and her colleagues were reportedly hired by Newrest Guyana to work on the Liza Destiny FPSO.
The woman said she works 28 days offshore for a total take home salary of $120,000 and if she works fewer days that sum is reduced to $110,000. She intimated that, at first, life on the FPSO was okay but then things changed.
“We would be forced to eat lovers,” she said. When asked to explain, the woman said, “We cannot eat together with expats. When the food is served we would have to wait until they have finished eating. When they are done, what is left back will then be served to us.”
The laundry staff said that the expat workers are a mixture of Trinidadians, Europeans, Americans and Indians.
“There would be Guyanese in the mix too but most would be just trainees,” she related.
Apart from that, continued the woman, only one laundry staffer is allowed to work for a 28-day rotation and that staffer is expected to work 12 hours every day.
If the other laundry staff does not show in time to relieve her, the worker revealed that, she is then forced to work those extra days without being paid overtime.
“All they will tell you is that you will get back the days that you worked but sometimes they would break their word and call you out to work,” she told reporters.
Additionally, she and the rest of her colleagues would not receive a bonus or allowances like the expats.
The workers also complained of working without insurance and have reportedly protested that this should be corrected but Newrest would only make promises and fail to follow through.
One worker, a cleaner, said that “one year has passed since their employer promised to fix the insurance problem but to date nothing has been done.”
The cleaner noted too that because of the mistreatment, many locals when they complete their 28-day rotation offshore would fail to return.
“People leffing the work, cause you working far from home, away from your family and children and the money is small and plus they treating you bad, it ain’t mek sense but some of we still holding on because we got bills to pay,” the cleaner said.
According to the cleaner, when workers fail to return they would be forced to do extra jobs and would be paid the same salary. The cleaner said he would sometimes have to wash dishes and do the laundry when staffers do not return to work.
Moreover, the local workers are now pleading with the relevant authorities to look into their situation and help make their lives better while working offshore for the American oil giant.
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