Kaieteur News

GEORGETOWN
EnergiesNet.com 09 14 2022

Guyanese working in the oil and gas sector here will be meeting with officials from the Ministry of Labour next week as they continue to complain about poor working conditions and other issues.

Both Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton and Chief Labour Officer Dhaneshwar Deonarine had invited affected workers to meet with ministry officials to highlight their grievances. President of the National Mines Workers Union of Guyana (NMWUG), Sherwin Downer confirmed the meeting and noted that he will be accompanying the workers.

Downer, though not the official union representative, has been assisting some oil and gas workers who have had various complaints while being attached to recruitment agency controlled by a Guyanese and Trinidadian firm, Trinidad Offshore Fabricators Unlimited (TOFCO) and Guyana Oil and Gas Support Services (GOGSSI). Downer explained that he would have made contact with Deonarine and was able to secure a meeting with the senior official.

The ministry had made a public announcement when contacted by this newspaper last week that all complaints regarding unfair work arrangements in the oil and gas sector should be reported officially to the government so that they could look into the matter. Deonarine told the publication that despite hearing about the difficulties being experienced in the sector, it is important for the affected workers to report the matter for the ministry’s records. He said unless that is done, the ministry would have to act on hearsay or reports in the media.

Downer said he is thus willing to use the opportunity to highlight the workers’ concerns and to make a few suggestions of his own; including the need for a labour court given the labour surge that is expected from a developing oil and gas economy; as well as the need to have a labour officer work closely with state agencies that accommodate foreign companies wanting to work here. Downer told the agency that he believes that a senior labour representative should be seated on the board of the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) to ensure that the rights of workers are constantly looked at in the acceptance of foreign businesses here. Downer added that given the inconsistencies occurring in the labour environment, he believes Guyana should also look toward the development of a labour court to address the growing employment sector.  It is understood that the Labour Court is not a court of law but operates as an industrial relations tribunal; hearing both sides in a case and then issuing a recommendation or determination, decision or order  setting out its opinion on the dispute and the terms on which it should be settled.

Guyanese from different recruitment and subcontractor agencies have complained bitterly about being fired from their jobs for frivolous reasons including them speaking up about something affecting them on the job. The workers have complained about unfair pay compared to foreign workers, not being provided with adequate health and safety gear, being discriminated against with increased payment and most controversial of them, being sent home without pay when there is adequate work available. Where inadequate work is concerned, workers say they are sometimes sent home for long periods with no word on when work will be available and no pay during the unemployment period.

It was this issue that caused the union to speak out last week on behalf of the TOFCO/ GOGSSI workers. Earlier this year, they had complained about being sent home for months with no pay while Trinidadian workers were being retained. They argued that Guyanese were being paid less that Trinidadians to do the same job, and that even the Trinidadian’s stipend were in excess of what locals were being paid. They were more upset knowing that the Trinidadians on rotation were going back to a job at home while Guyanese workers were being treated poorly.

Following that report, the newspaper subsequently learnt that the workers were placed on contract as “independent contractors” responsible for paying their own taxes, NIS among others. As such, workers are sent home with no explanations and outstanding among others. The newspaper also learnt that while the partnership agency had hired the locals, it is the Saipem yard in which they work that gives them their orders and even disciplines them as workers could be sent by the yard. The newspaper was told also that a special effort is also being made to keep Trinidadian workers here despite them having to leave when Guyanese would have learnt the work. The publication was told that is so because the foreign arm of the local partnership also gets paid based on the number of Trinidadians it has here working.

Minister Hamilton warned recruitment companies against unethical employment standards last week during the Labour Ministry and the International Organization for Migration workshop to educate employers about the systems and policies that should be followed when employing migrants living in Guyana. He told recruitment agencies that policy making for workers by a third party should not be encouraged. Kaieteur News was reliably informed that the local partnership agency was told to place the Guyanese on contract.

kaieteurnewsonline.com 09 13 2022