While there is little doubt there are now clear signs of an emerging potentially lucrative oil and gas industry in Guyana, there exists, equally, a clear danger that the sector could pose what might well be the stiffest challenge yet to workers’ rights at a time when the focus among those entities, both local and foreign, involved in the sector will be maximizing their returns from the industry.
In a recent interview with the Stabroek Business, trade unionist Lincoln Lewis said that there are “absolutely no guarantees” that government is going to be able to stem the tide of what he described as “oil wealth mania………….” as businesses vigorously pursue profits at the expense of workers’ rights. That could be one of the bigger challenges to emerge from the dawn of the oil and gas economy, Lewis declared.