Lowest paid gets $25.40/hour

THE lowest paid worker at Atlantic LNG’s Train IV construction project is paid $25.40 an hour, the project’s main contractor Bechtel International has stated in a full page advertisement scheduled to run in the print media over the weekend. The company also dismissed criticisms of its safety procedures at Train IV construction site, insisting there was a “zero accident philosophy.” The Bechtel ad states: “All subcontracted craft workers onsite work under a union contract, or are represented by the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), for non-union craft personnel. The MOU covers compensation pay, work week, overtime, rain off, fringe benefit incentive, meal allowance, work rules and grievance procedures.”

The ad also states that current minimum wage paid is $18 an hour for the first eight hours and $27 an hour for the next two hours of its ten-hour base work day. “The minimum wage of a worker who works the 50-hour work week on the Atlantic LNG Train 4 Project is $25.40 an hour.” Bechtel also provided a breakdown of additional incentives paid to workers, including a safety incentive, an attendance incentive and other fringe benefits. The company said a monitoring system was in place to verify that workers received their full remuneration packages, including a routine audit of workers’ pay stubs. On the issue of safety, the company said ‘Job Safety Analysis’ and ‘Job Hazard Analysis’ were regularly performed at the construction site.

Bechtel repeated its call for a resumption of work, stating that some 1,900 workers had been displaced without any income. The company added that the “impact of this walkout on Pt Fortin businesses and the country was substantial.” For the past month construction on Train IV of the billion-dollar Atlantic LNG site in Pt Fortin has been at a standstill as workers took action to press for increased wages and improved working conditions. The company’s shut down for four days between Saturday and Tuesday because of an unrelated strike by tugboat operators at Pt Lisas’ PLIPDECO, prevented three tankers from berthing at Atlantic LNG’s Pt Fortin terminal to collect liquefied natural gas.