Putting oil and gas employees on contract allowing employers to ditch responsibilities – GAWU

Sep 26, 2022 News

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Kaieteur News – With very little representation of oil and gas workers in the sector, labour rights stakeholders continue to highlight the woes of local employees, with specific reference now being made toward petroleum staffers being placed on contracts, and how employers are able to circumvent their responsibility them.

In an invited comment the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) expressed their concern over the current approach to petroleum workers, who in many instances, have pointed out cases of mistreatment and non -compliance with labour laws by their employers. GAWU’s General Secretary, Aslim Singh believes that “the arm’s length approach to employment where workers work through contractors, is contributing to the situation where the real employer can disavow the contracted employee.” Several companies serve as subcontractors within the sector, all providing auxiliary services that enables the development of the industry. Subcontractors may also seek sub- contractors to provide them with a particular service, such as labour.

It has been recognized however that while a contractor may be providing the labour, that hiring company may not be directly responsible for the worker who actually takes his orders from where they work. In this way, the worker is hired by one company, but is fired or receives directions from another company. Recent complaints by workers attached to a local joint venture had said that they were placed on one-year contracts and made to pay their own taxes and insurance despite being out of a job every few months due to the availability of work which comes based on available projects.

Singh told the newspaper however, that labour unions have a key role to play in assisting local content and the rights of oil and gas workers. “In terms of the local content secretariat, many matters regarding issues of equality between Guyanese and foreigners and the treatment of Guyanese labour relative to their foreign counterparts we continue to see a dichotomy in the approach.” He said that the union has recognised that local content does not seek to address workers’ rights, so “we are still reliant on the labour laws to do that, and we continue to represent workers in that vein.”

He said that the termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act, speaks to the laying off of workers in a specific context such as when a company has to close operations for a short period, the law allows an employer to lay off a worker for up to six weeks based on the parameters set out. He said that therefore, that if the six weeks is exceeded then severance is payable. “But some companies have opted to move to short-term contracts in an effort to avoid paying statutory benefits.” To that, Singh said workers must be educated in their rights. Right now, he continued “we are speaking to some workers in regard to a situation involving redundancy and the workers were not aware of their rights.”

“We believe that local content is important to safeguard Guyanese jobs but at the same time we want Guyanese to be treated fairly and justly,” Singh said. “We believe the trade union movement has a role in local content in ensuring the conditions of the Act are upheld and that there is equality in the workplace in terms of benefits and conditions.” The General Secretary added that GAWU has had engagements with the Local Content Secretariat on some issues and “we have shared some matters which have come to our attention and has brought some remedy.”

The union, he continued also participated in the consultations regarding local content and is happy to note some suggestions offered by the body, were included in the Act. Singh posited however that there is need for more work to address the issues affecting local workers. He highlighted that there is a lot of intimidation and workers are often scared to speak out, and are therefore cheated of their rights.

The Ministry of Labour which has the oversight role within this sector, has highlighted problems within the workforce of the budding oil and gas industry. The Ministry’s Chief Labour Officer, Dhaneshwar Deonarine had told the Kaieteur News that the Ministry is aware of some of the complaints coming from the local oil and gas workers but insisted that the only way to help the affected workers is for them to make a report with the Ministry. He said he understands workers’ concerns about losing their jobs, but the agency must receive the information so that the matter could be addressed.

GAWU signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Oilfield Workers Union (OWTU) of Trinidad and Tobago ‘to properly bargain for the fair treatment of workers and apply pressure for workers’ rights in Guyana,’ the union had said. The two organizations are currently coordinating some activities which they hope to roll out soon during a planned visit by OWTU to Guyana.

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