President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU), Seepaul Narine has indicated that while GAWU with the help of the Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) of Trinidad and Tobago, has been able to penetrate the oil and gas industry locally, a large number of workers remain unrepresented.

On the sidelines of the ongoing GAWU Delegates’ Conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Narine said that an alarming number of workers in the oil and gas industry are afraid of becoming unionized.

“There is some hope that things are turning around but there are still quite a number of challenges, workers are still scared. Some of the employers are making that possible,” he said.

In a recent report, ExxonMobil announced that there are more than 5,000 Guyanese working in the oil and gas Industry.

Mr. Narine declined to disclose what percentage of the workers are being represented by a union, but he said GAWU has been quietly working with some workers to ensure their rights are protected.

He said ahead of signing the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with OWTU, GAWU had received a plethora of complaints from workers in the industry. Among the complaints were claims that some companies were barring their employees from becoming unionized.  

“You had in some instances where it was in the contract that they are not allowed to join union, and that was removed. It is against the law, and the ministry’s intervention caused the removal from the contract because in our laws, the employer cannot tell you not to be a member of the union, and that was clearly a violation,” the GAWU President explained.

Other issues surrounded the lack of personal protective equipment and other cccupation, health and safety matters, as well as salary issues and benefits.

According to Narine, many of the complaints received were resolved with the help of the Ministry of Labour through the Office of the Chief Labour Officer.

In an attempt to penetrate the industry even further, Narine said the Union will be intensifying its awareness campaign to educate oil and gas workers of their rights, and encourage them to become unionized.

“We have to do more awareness, and we have been doing that, and our billboards, our posters, advertisements, we have been saying to them, you have rights, your rights have to be protected, and not to be afraid,” he said.

He said the Union with continue to work with OWTU to receive technical support. OWTU has more than 85 years of experience in the Petroleum Industry.

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