Intimidation, vicitmisation order of the day in oil and gas sector - GAWU

Intimidation, vicitmisation order of the day in oil and gas sector – GAWU

May 19, 2022 News

By Zena Henry

Kaieteur News – The oil and gas sector is a new one, and an extremely lucrative one.

GAWU’s General Secretary Aslim Singh

But for a poor nation like Guyana, government officials have stated directly and indirectly that they do not wish to scare off or frustrate the players assisting Guyana in developing its oil endowments.
The new sector however, is taking a serious toll on Guyanese who have ventured within this new area of work the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union’s (GAWU) General Secretary, Aslim Singh has stated. In an exclusive interview with this newspaper, Singh painted the grim reality that oil and gas workers face.
Among them is the fact that earlier this year, GAWU had to intervene where a “big” oil and gas company was refusing giving their employees their personal protective equipment (PPE). A few later, Singh said, an oil and gas worker received a serious cut on the oil rig, but not while performing his duties. Not only was that worker fired for the injury, but he was also made to pay for the flight onshore where he would receive better medical attention. A few months ago, Singh said, another worker lost a piece of finger while working on an oil rig. He was supposed to receive compensation, but instead the worker was fired without receiving the necessary returns.
As recent as last Wednesday, Singh continued, another oil and gas worker from a recruitment company, one the GAWU executive said he had never heard of, was sent home for raising issues about his rights in terms of health and safety at the work place. The sad thing, Singh said is that the worker was on probation and was easily disposed of following his health and safety concerns. “These are just some of the hellish situations,” Singh said the labour union is coming across in the oil and gas sector. In offering help to the affected workers, the labour rights advocate explained that they are so fearful of victimisation that they are refusing to publicly highlight what they experience and to seek redress.
Where the worker lost a piece of his finger, Singh said he offered to help the worker in addressing his National Insurance Scheme (NIS) compensation as well as bringing his plight to the Labour Ministry, but the worker continues to refuse the assistance. Singh said that the oil and gas workers are extremely fearful because of the intimidation they face. He explained that given the few players in the oil and gas sector, workers are fearful that word would spread about them and that it would hamper them from accessing future opportunities within the sector. Singh said these are some of the reasons why workers say they need representation; but the union must approach with prudence to protect the workers. “The minute these guys hear; get a whisper of anything, they take action,” Singh opined.
Singh went on to highlight that in a casual conversation with a company which supplies labour to the oil and gas sector, he was made to understand that many oil companies do not budget for certain benefits such as leave pay and health and safety, “although these things are law.” Singh said the conversation revealed that while some recruiting agencies may want to provide certain benefits to workers, they cannot, since the oil company to which the labour is supplied does not provide the funds for the recruitment agency to deliver the benefits. Singh said that he learnt too that in some instances, Guyanese agencies are helping to undermine their countrymen by advising the foreign companies not to provide extensive benefits to the locals.
Additionally, Singh highlighted a grave injustice to the local oil and gas workers. He explained that in some cases where Guyanese are told about hefty pay schemes, the reality is that the salaries are padded by discretional benefits. He said that for example, if a worker is said to be paid $200,000 monthly, the truth is that these workers are really paid at the minimum rate of over $200 an hour, while the benefits and allowances make up the rest of the pay. But these allowances are payable, only if the company decides to pay up.
More recently, some 70 workers from a Guyanese and Trinidadian joint venture complained about being sent home until further notice, without pay, while Trinidadian workers remained on the job. Those workers had claimed that they were sent home, but could do the same work as the Trinidadians who were retained. They said that although they were doing the same work, their Trinidadian counterparts were being paid significantly more. So much so, that their stipends were alleged to be two and three times that of the Guyanese workers. This was despite having to pay more to feed and house the foreign workers who were also said to be going back to a job in Trinidad when their work rotation was over. Singh confirmed complains such as those highlighted by the joint venture workers.
After two articles highlighting this particular matter in the Kaieteur News, the newspaper was told by the President of the National Mine Workers Union of Guyana (NMWUG) Sherwyn Downer, that a meeting was subsequently held with workers who were reportedly threatened with dismissal if the company was to ascertain which worker (s) was feeding information to the union. NMWUG has been instrumental in highlighting the plight of those workers.