The Energy Chamber produced a survey which attempted to suggest to the public that the salary of Petrotrin workers is above T&T's industry standards. However, this report does nothing more than raise several fundamental questions about how workers are viewed and treated in T&T.
Firstly, the Energy Chamber needs to clarify which companies were surveyed in order to determine the 'rest of the sector'? Did it include Atlantic LNG, BP, BG, BHP Billiton etc? If so, it would only be fair, and also interesting, for the Energy Chamber to publish the pay rates of these multinationals. In addition to not including multinationals, the survey did not include companies such as YARA.
If their survey did not include the multinationals operating in T&T, then it is flawed and cannot be said to compare Petrotrin's wages to the 'rest of the sector'.
Secondly, the survey failed to take into consideration that Petrotrin is an integrated production and refining company, and it is the only such company in T&T.
Therefore, Petrotrin cannot and should not be compared to any other industry. How can you compare refinery workers when there are no other refinery companies in T&T? The answer is simple: you cannot.
Therefore, since there are no comparators in T&T, Petrotrin can only be compared to the global average.
This is not difficult for the Energy Chamber to produce as the average global salaries for oil and gas can be found in the Hay's Oil and Gas Salary Guide 2015.
According to the report: "Over the past 12 months, we have seen the average global permanent salary increase by 1.3 per cent from last years' average salary of US$82,239 (TT$575,673 ).
This breaks down into a local talent average of US$71,569 (TT$500,983), and an expat talent average of US$99,013 (TT$693,091). The average contractor day rate globally in 2014 was US$540 per day (TT$3,780)".
The Hay's Oil and Gas Salary Guide further stated that the average annual salary for an intermediate person working in the electrical field was US$48,500/year (TT$28,300/month), and US$70,000/year (TT$ 40,800/month) at the senior level. In the mechanical area, the average annual salary at the intermediate level was US$42,600/year (TT$24,850/month), and US$62,000/year (TT$36,166/month) at the senior level.
The Oilfields Workers' Trade Union is positive that no electrical or mechanical employee of Petrotrin earns anything close to the intermediate level, far less the senior level.
Therefore, when considering the global and regional average, Petrotrin's only comparators, the Energy Chamber's survey should have revealed the truth: that contractor workers in the oil and gas service companies of T&T are in fact significantly underpaid.
Thirdly, it is unfortunate that the Energy Chamber's survey follows the apparent trend of publishing the salary of ordinary workers, as they conveniently omitted the pay of Petrotrin executives.
It is only fair that the country also knows the executives' salaries and not only that of Petrotrin's cleaners (which is inaccurate). Petrotrin's President receives TT$180,000 per month, the vice president is paid TT$120,000 per month, and senior managers receive some $64,000 per month. Not to mention the salary of the four expat managers at the refinery which accounts for TT$6 million per year. While this disparity is extreme, the situation in the private sector oil and gas service companies is indeed worse.
As a result, the wider discourse should be about how underpaid workers are in general throughout T&T rather than the propaganda being mounted against Petrotrin workers founded on inaccurate salaries and surveys.
Finally, the public should not forget that the general strike and labour riots of 1937 started by oil workers in the oil fields that spread throughout the country's working class was vociferously condemned by the colonial authorities and the business class.
However, militant actions led to the rise of general wages throughout the economy benefiting the entire country.
The militant action of the OWTU in the 60s and 70s led by George Weekes was also condemned by the Government and business class, but those actions also led to the general increase in the standard of living for the entire working class.
Today is no different, as too many labourers working for oil and gas service companies are being left behind, and the time has come once again to make things right. This is what the Energy Chambers' survey has truly revealed.
Ozzi Warwick
Chief Education and Research Officer
Oilfields Workers' Trade Union