Striking workers block contractors from refinery

SCORES of contractors were prevented from entering Petrotrin’s Pointe-a-Pierre refinery compound yesterday after hundreds of temporary and casual workers blocked the main gate as protests over wages and working conditions continued. Accompanied by members of the Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU), the workers vowed to intensify protest action until the company agrees to meet with union officials to discuss regularisation of their employment status. OWTU Pointe-a-Pierre branch president Hollis Alexander, said company officials refused to discuss workers’ status and instead opted to bring in contractors to perform maintenance work at the refinery.

“The union is firmly against bringing in unskilled people to perform duties these workers are trained to do,” Alexander said. He added despite Petrotrin’s decision to regularize 70 workers, most of them were being ignored because the company preferred to bring in the lowest bidding contractor to do work on a number of critical plants at the refinery. “These contractors are doing sloppy work and are also not adhering to Article 34 of the collective agreement signed between Petrotrin and the union, which states workers are to be paid a certain amount based on their job classification,” Alexander said. He also claimed bidding wars for Petrotrin contracts led to contractors hiring “persons from off the streets,” which in turn led to shoddy work and delays. Alexander said the No 4 Vacuum Distillation Unit (VDU), which was scheduled to undergo six weeks of routine maintenance last October, was one such example.

“The work on this unit was supposed to take six weeks, and 26 weeks later, the unit is still not functioning properly,” he said, adding that up to yesterday the plant had to be shut down due to a gas leak. Alexander said a fire occurred at the same unit after a previous gas leak. He also alleged that Petrotrin officials were placing trainees in work situations without proper supervision. “Up to this morning, we heard that a trainee, working without a supervisor, was struck on the head by a high pressure air hose while working in the tube bundle shop,” he said. Alexander said protest action would continue until workers’ grievances were addressed by the company. Efforts to contact Petrotrin officials proved futile.