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Courtney McNish. - Photo by Jeff K. MayersINDUSTRIAL RELATIONS consultant for energy services company AdON Construction Courtney McNish believes that offshore workers’ recent promises to take industrial action in the form of sickouts are merely idle threats by employees to “extort” higher wages from their employers.
He made that comment as employees doubled down on their intention to take action in the face of what they called poor wages and working conditions at the Teak, Samaan and Poui (TSP) fields owned by Perenco TT.
Speaking to Newsday on July 20, McNish said, “A sickout or a work-to-rule is considered illegal industrial action. One for which an employer could terminate your services. Why, therefore, would you give prior notice that you intend to sickout?
“This is a threat for them to extort higher wages,” he said. “A sickout is a conspiracy of workers to withhold their labour on the basis that they were all ill together at the same time.”
He also once again rubbished claims of poor personal protection equipment (PPE) and a lack of access to PPE, reiterating his belief that workers were only making that complaint so they would not have to work.
“The law gives a worker one legitimate reason for not complying with an instruction or refusing to work – if the work is unsafe and it doesn’t have PPE, or if the employer has not done sufficiently to make the environment safe. So issues related to health and safety which includes proper PPE, is one of the most frequently used excuses to stop work or not to work.
“So the issue of not having proper PPE is not about PPE, because they have PPE and we have evidence that they do. As I said before, this is about wages and salaries.”
McNish noted that up to the time of reporting, workers had only threatened to work to rule. They had not yet actually done it.
Workers also doubled down on their intention to take action despite agreeing to meet with employers on July 24.
A representative of the workers said, “We are concerned that if we go out from Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (July 21-23), that plan to meet with us will be put on the back burner and eventually be null and void. They are playing hardball.”
When Newsday asked McNish last week to respond to workers’ complaints that they would only receive one set of PPE per year, he claimed they actually got three sets per year. However, Newsday received a letter to AdON employees titled: “One AdON orange Nomex coverall.”
The letter advised that one orange AdON Nomex coverall was assigned and given for a duration of 12 months. It said worn out, damaged or defective PPE should be removed from service immediately and returned to the office for inspection. The letter added that at the end of an assigned project, the coveralls were to be returned to the company, and failure to return the coveralls or any damage done to the garments could result in the company recovering the cost from the employees.
In response, McNish shared files which listed six names of employees who had received coveralls over the past year.
Four out of the six workers were given coveralls at three different occasions over the past year. Two were given coveralls twice in 2025. Newsday also received documents which indicated that workers signed out for other PPE such as glasses and gloves.
Workers explained that they were required to sign out for PPE such as glasses and gloves every time they went out onto the platforms. However, they said the equipment would normally wear out before they were finished with their entire work period.
One worker told Newsday, “You would sometimes get three scaffolding gloves and one pair of welding gloves, depending on your craft. They expect it to last 42 days but most times it lasts three weeks. When you call for back-up, they do not respond and they do not send PPE.
“That sickout form means nothing for the workers when they reach out onto the platform.”
Workers added that for most of them, when their PPE was worn out, they had to go to health-and-safety officers on the platform employed by Perenco. They are usually cautioned that they are required to be supplied with sufficient PPE by the health-and-safety officers on the platform.
“When they request PPE the company is supposed to issue it. But when they complain about it, they don’t send it on time,” said a worker on one of the TSP platforms in a conversation with Newsday.
“Some people would wear their coveralls until there are holes in them. Even boots seem to be a problem to get. Only recently, like around the last year or so, did they really begin to get coveralls frequently.”
More Sookhai offshore employees consider sickout action
Meanwhile, more employees of Sookhai Engineering and Rental Services Ltd (SERSL) are in limbo as production workers continue their sickout action. Sources told Newsday that even more workers were considering joining the sickout as no communication between the company and employees had been forthcoming over the past week.
“Everyone is unsure about what is going on. So far, we haven’t gotten any communication from them. All they sent out was a complaint form to notify them if we have any PPE complaints. That would be to get a new PPE.”
Workers said the only information they had received was from media. “There was no reaching out to the workers to let them know they understand that we have concerns.”
Workers reiterated their concerns over a lack of contracts, useless job letters, no insurance and poor pay.
“The point that it has reached, where people are making plans to do this (join sickout action) and they are comfortable with going through with this, shows that people are fed up.
“They need to listen to us,” a worker said. “The employees have concerns, and in order to alleviate some of these things, we need to get our concerns heard so we could all be on the same page. People have not been getting the justice they deserve.
“The operators and the employees on the platforms are the ones that actually keep the platform running. Yes, Perenco is the owner of the asset, but without us, nothing can happen.”
On July 7, employees of SERSL began engaging in sickout action, which led to an initial dip in production.
As a result, Minister of Energy Dr Roodal Moonilal commissioned Minister in the Ministry of Energy Ernesto Kesar to investigate the circumstances surrounding the sickout. Perenco also cautioned SERSL to do whatever it could to quell the protests and engage in talks that would be mutually beneficial to both the company and the workers.
English (US) ·