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Jun 07, 2022 News
– GAWU says situation another assault on local oil sector workers
Kaieteur News – The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) has described the non-payment of a salary increase to Guyanese workers by an oil and gas support company as “another assault” on the rights of locals within the sector.
The GAWU informed that a named oil and gas support company recently increased wages for its expatriate staff but has blatantly refused to do the same for Guyanese. The labour union said it understands that while the increased cost of living would have promoted the wage increase for the foreign workers, it is reportedly being said that any such increase for Guyanese would be an unnecessary “favour”.
In a public statement, GAWU said that it is widely recognised that workers and their families are facing serious constraints arising from the substantial hike in the cost of living. Notwithstanding efforts by policy makers to provide breathing room, the ascension of prices remains steep for many important and essential commodities and services. In this regard, some enterprises have sought to alleviate their workers burdens by approving pay rises as they recognize the importance of their employees.
“Undoubtedly, it was against that background that a well-known foreign-owned oil sector company decided to improve pay rates for its employees. Dismayingly, the GAWU Oil and Gas Branch was informed that the increases were only approved for that company’s expatriate staffers.” GAWU said that the locals on the other hand, who comprise a significant proportion of the workforce, were excluded from that company’s consideration.
According to GAWU, “The workers said they heard rumblings that the locals did not require any pay rises. They said from what they learnt their foreign bosses felt that their earnings were more than adequate, and a pay rise would represent essentially a favour.” The workers told GAWU that they were simply appalled that their employer would engage in such demeaning thoughts. Additionally, some employees who have been there for several years to date, have not received any rise in pay despite continuing to perform credibly, the Union informed.
The GAWU said that the local employees are at a loss for their exclusion. “They shared with us that their foreign colleagues earn substantially more than them but inexplicably, their salaries were insufficient thus necessitating the pay rise. The workers were perplexed that if it was that the foreigners were receiving inadequate pay it did not take any serious examination to understand their situation.”
The GAWU said it is deeply disturbed by the actions of the foreign enterprise. “It represents yet another assault on Guyanese workers in the oil sector… and further illustrates the need for the sector to be organized.” The workers’ representative said that many foreign owned companies have adopted stringent anti-union policies and have sought to quell any efforts by workers to become unionized.
“This is not surprising given the exploitative practices perpetuated by some enterprises in the sector. Some firms we have heard have sought to assure their workers that they have their interest at heart. This, of course, is a misnomer as only their bottom line is what really matters and workers becoming unionised, seemingly represents a threat to profitability. It is indeed a disheartening situation,” GAWU lamented.
GAWU recently highlighted a number of grim cases where workers were injured doing oil and gas jobs and sent home without compensation. GAWU said that oil and gas workers were being sent home for merely asking questions about safety equipment. The labour union had highlighted too that while companies within the sector were touting large sums of money for related jobs, they were actually paying workers at the current minimum wage of $44,200 but fluffing the salary with benefits that many of the companies pay out at their own discretion. GAWU had told this newspaper also that while some companies were not telling workers to not join unions outright, they were creating an atmosphere where such representation is unwanted. On a sadder note, GAWU said that oil and gas workers were refusing to report or make complains against the companies at fault for fear of being blackballed within the sector.
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