New oil sector proving heavy on local work force

Mar 10, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – Local oil and gas workers may have to brace themselves for unwanted work relations and conditions as a course on how to protect their rights in this emerging sector is now being chartered.

credit: GAWU photo

There has been much excitement regarding employment in the oil sector, higher paying jobs and immense benefits for workers, but one of the main unions fighting for workers’ rights, the Guyana Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) says that it will take some time before any significant shift is made in ensuring that oil and gas workers receive their honest earnings and benefits.
This is according to Aslim Singh, GAWU General Secretary. He told Kaieteur News that the union is making every effort to ensure that laws and the rights of workers are being respected. The General Secretary was at the time reiterating a number of violations and inconsistencies that local O&G workers face when he pointed out that Guyana would eventually have to develop its handling of such matters based on the evolution of the local oil industry and the advice and directions of partners already within the oil and gas arena.
A key partner at this time GAWU said is the Oil Workers Trade Union (OWTU) of Trinidad and Tobago and while the two entities have been in contact on various issues regarding how that union handled workers’ rights in the oil producing Twin Island, information is that it is basically a waiting game.
Singh said that oil in Guyana is new and there are practices that work for the sector that seem to be contributing to the exploitation of workers. He noted too that even their counterparts at the OWTU have recognized some of those practices, relating that it is how things are done within the sector. One such example, Singh pointed out is the contracting and sub-contracting of workers not employed by those for whom the work.
To this end, unions will have to navigate their way in ensuring workers’ rights. “This is all new to Guyana and it will take time,” the GS posited. ‘This is something that will evolve over time and it also depends on how business evolves.”
Singh noted however that complaints made by workers are nonetheless being looked at with the intervention of relevant authorities where needed. He told the newspaper that some issues faced by workers involve being hired by one company to work for another. Understanding that this is an accepted practice within the oil sector, the GS said the union is still very concerned about how workers benefits and rights are secured.
“So you have a person employed by company A, but company B is where they work. Who then is responsible if the worker is injured or dies on the job? Who is responsible for disciplinary action? How does that work? Singh questioned.
The union mentioned, when these concerns were raised a few weeks ago, that where agent employment is concerned, workers are not directly supervised by their employers but by a third party who are paid to act on their behalf. The union believes that agents who are paying the workers “…may not spare a thought to discipline employees at the behest of firms whether such actions are justified or not.” The same could be said where workers’ benefits and rights are concerned. Singh noted that several agents hiring workers for the oil sector have different pay schemes, benefits and such, so in some cases workers doing the same job may receive different pay and benefits, all contributing to discriminatory, exploitative workplace practices.
GAWU said workers from almost all the hiring agents have contacted the union seeking advice and/or information on what they must expect. In one case, the union said contact was made when a popular hiring agent had contractually prohibited workers from joining any union. The matter was brought to the Ministry of Labour, who on two occasions had to make contact with the agent to correct the illegal rule even after they had promised the ministry that the matter would be corrected.
Other issues involved the nonpayment of overtime past the eight hour working shift, the availability of sick leave where some agencies limit the number of sick days workers get and they are only released on such leave if the company determines that the staff is sick enough. Opining that employers seem to care about staffers only when they are producing, Singh said that the union is also aware that some agents do not pay their staff for the one month they are off work.

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