IOCL protest at Petrotrin

The union served legal strike notice on IOCL on October 20 and are on day 29 of a 90-day strike.

Speaking with reporters afterwards, Williams said workers were seeking the intervention of Petrotrin president, Fitzroy Harewood, to bring the impasse to an end “We are the workers who do all the transportation in the offshore environment in Trinidad Soldado field, in this day 29, we are suffering the same fate, lack of equity, discrimination against contractor workers and what we are fighting for is the minimum wage in Trinmar- nothing else, nothing more,” Williams said.

“In the 29th day, we know it is affecting production, there are production losses of 3,000 barrels a day and why is Petrotrin allowing the contractors to get away with this?” he added.

He also alleged that there were “very serious safety issues” at Trinmar regarding the type of boats currently being used in its operations including emergency response vessels and bunkering vessels.

“So we want to know why it is that Petrotrin is not getting involved, the union has requested an audit, and so far these audits have not reach the OWTU,” he said, and called on Petrotrin to ensure its contractors paid the workers the correct wages “Our wage where it exists now presently, are 60 percent, 70 percent much lower than even labourer wage rates in Trinmar, that is unfair, and again we are just asking for justice, we are asking for equity, we are asking for fair play, give us the minimum wage in Trinmar, it applies here in Pointe-a-Pierre, why it doesn’t apply here in Trinmar?” Williams asked.

Workers have vowed to remain on the picket line for the duration of the 90-day strike while IOCL, in a previous statement, had stated its intention to allow the Industrial Court to rule on the matter.