Guyanese oil workers receiving 10x less pay than Trinidadian counterparts – GAWU

– describes practice as highway robbery, exploitative

The wages of Guyanese in the petroleum industry have been placed under the spotlight in recent times, and on Friday, the Oil and Gas branch of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) disclosed that these persons are paid some ten times less than their Trinidadian counterparts.

For the past weeks, the Union said, it has been in contact with its fraternal union, the Oil Workers Trade Union (OWTU) of Trinidad and Tobago. The OWTU is recognised as one of the foremost unions in our Caribbean neighbourhood, and over the years has grown to speak on behalf of workers in that country’s oil and gas sector, removing exploitative practices as it brought improved working conditions and benefits to its membership.
GAWU had drawn to the public’s attention that workers in the oil and gas sector locally were earning pay rates equivalent to the national minimum wage.
“We bemoaned the situation, pointing out that, presently, the lowest earning wage in the public sector was $403 per hour, as against $255 per hour in the oil sector. We pointed out, too, those workers were in receipt of allowances which had no scientific reasoning and could be withdrawn at any time. The practice, we surmised, was an attempt to subjugate workers. We also have spoken…about the absence of overtime payments to certain workers.”
GAWU added that workers were entitled to payment for 4,000 hours per annum, but were receiving less than 3,000 hours’ pay – what it considered a highway robbery and exploitative practice.
However, recent engagements between the two unions have revealed the stark disparities in rates-of-pay and conditions-of-work between Guyanese and unionised Trinidadian workers in the sector.
“In nearly all occupations, Trinidadian unionised workers obtained vastly superior pay rates. For instance, we noted, jobs such as rigmen, electricians, operators, mechanics, and other artisans receiving ten times more pay than their Guyanese counterparts. For some other jobs, the disparity was even greater,” the union said.
Additionally, the OWTU informed that, apart from pay, workers in the sector enjoy several allowances, such as on-call duty, overtime, subsistence allowance, overtime meal allowance, disturbance allowance, travelling allowance, offshore allowance, working out of base, travelling time, re-scheduling of established working day, among others.
Caribbean counterparts also benefit from deferred compensation plan, savings allowance, vacation travel grant plan, housing aid plan, pension plan, employees medical plan, and employees benefit plan. It demonstrates that for workers to get what they rightly deserve, they need to be organised.
“In our conversations with the OWTU, we recognised that several of the benefits negotiated by that Union had been won by GAWU where our Union enjoys bargaining rights. We believe that in a sector which is responsible for a significant economic contribution, the workers who produce its wealth must be properly compensated for their efforts, rather than having the real wealth creamed off at the top. The GAWU, for the record, is not averse to enterprises in the sector. We wish to see those enterprises succeed and become profitable,” the Union said.
In many enterprises, GAWU said, workers have expressed a strong willingness to become organized, since it would allow them to be treated in a fairer and dignified manner. Though workers recognise that reality, they also expressed apprehensions.
“In recent weeks, we have been studying the corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies of several foreign enterprises operating in the sector. Those policies which speak to a broad range of human rights, environmental, financial proprieties, among other things, have largely endorsed the ILO’s fundamental principles and rights at work. A chief principle regards the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.”
These principles have also been translated into freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of Guyana as well as the Trade Union Recognition Act. In the coming weeks, the GAWU and the OWTU will seek to further cooperate and jointly seek to strengthen the hand of the Guyanese workers in the oil and gas sector.