GOGEC calls on GAWU to reconsider partnership with foreign union

…says local trade unions have abundant experience

Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber (GOGEC) President Manniram Prashad on Wednesday expressed concern over the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) in Trinidad and Tobago.
The body said that it has always advocated for Guyanese workers doing the same job as expatriates to be paid similar wages.

“We respect good industrial relations and is in the forefront to ensure that we have a healthy industrial climate. It is unfortunate that GAWU feels that foreign intervention is needed to represent oil and gas workers who they are attempting to get unionised,” Prashad said.
He noted that GOGEC was of the view that” we have good industrial practices in the oil and gas sector, in which the Ministry of Labour has been monitoring closely and quite effectively”.
In Trinidad and Tobago, he said, Petrotrin experienced a series of strikes, protest actions, and marches. “Petrotrin was forced to close in 2018. The OWTU lost a significant amount of its membership. We have a relative stable industrial climate in the oil and gas sector in Guyana and we want it to remain that way. GOGEC is urging GAWU to reconsider its decision to bring in a foreign union and to seek help from other trade unions and experienced trade unionist in Guyana in which there is an abundance,” Prashad said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, GAWU signed a MoU with OWTU to enable what it said would be better standards of working in the local oil sector.
At the signing ceremony on Tuesday, OWTU President General Ancel Roget pointed out that multinational companies were appearing to capitalise on the oil wealth but workers must not settle for low wages, inadequate work standards or be left disadvantaged.
With decades of experience in lobbying for workers’ rights in Trinidad’s oil sector, OWTU’s wealth of knowledge is being transferred to GAWU to have uniform standards in Guyana.
This partnership will enable GAWU to focus on other factors, such as expatriates employed in jobs which the local workforce is capable of doing.
GAWU President Seepaul Narine underscored that workers in Guyana’s petroleum industry were not treated in accordance with the labour laws, hence the need for such intervention.
“We recognise that the industry is growing at a fast pace and we also recognise that in the industry, many of the contractors who are supplying the labour force are not treating workers decently. They are denying them their PPE [Personal Protective Equipment], overtime payment, annual leave, and many other things that are in the law. So, we decided that it has reached the point whereby we have to be able to step up our level of representation to the workers,” he said.
In a statement, GAWU also added that the MoU was intended, “for the unions, to share expertise and experience in advancing the rights and protecting the gains of workers within our unions and countries. The parties will also consider other appropriate and relevant collective actions in the interest of working-class protection and the development of Guyana’s social economy.”