Great load off my shoulders

“A GREAT load has been lifted from off my shoulders.” This was the reaction yesterday from Ernest Thompson, president of the Atlantic LNG workers’ movement, minutes after an announcement was made that an agreement had been reached to settle the ten-week industrial impasse, which crippled construction work on LNG Train IV. Thompson said while the agreement was “not what we really wanted,” it was nonetheless “a great step forward” for the contract workers employed at Atlantic LNG’s Train IV project. “This is, I believe, a significant move forward and I want to thank everyone involved in the struggle, especially the workers, for their stance in securing our just dues from the company. This agreement goes to show that no foreign multi-national company can come and shove an MOU down workers’ throats without a clear cut collective bargaining agreement in place,” he said.

Thompson said an overall increase of seven percent, up from an initial increase of four percent, had been agreed to by the company. He said an agreement had also been reached on increased allowances on safety and health benefits, sick leave, fringe and production bonuses. Thompson said Bechtel had announced a “day-off” on Monday where the company would meet with its sub-contractors, which would be followed by a re-orientation process. He said work would resume on a phased basis sometime next week. In a statement from Atlantic LNG, the company noted that workers had “accepted an enhanced Bechtel Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which focused on enhancements of benefits and fringe payments in addition to increases of the base wage rates paid to all workers at the Atlantic LNG Train IV site.”

“Non-unionised workers will get increases in allowances and base wages of up to 22 percent and share in a TT$12.6 million On Time/Early completion bonus,” the release stated. Atlantic LNG also noted that the four percent increase in the base wage, which was due in July 2004, had been brought forward “for immediate payment upon resumption of work.” ALNG stated the agreement covered the terms and conditions until the end of the project and that “ incremental labour costs” as a result of the enhancements would amount to some TT$88 million.