Exxon Noble - Guyana Quarantine

I have asked GOM mariners why they don’t have a union. Just try it out and see how things go. You can vote the union out if you don’t like it. Fear of losing their job, being ostracized by their neighbors and life long anti-union teachings were the biggest answers I got. The fear was real. The anti-union teachings came right out of a John Birch Society book, it was brainwashing basically. You’d have a better chance of converting those guys to Buddhism.

Not too far off on that.

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Or… Is it the condescending tone that pro-Union people bring to the discussion that gets them shut down after a few sentences with GoM mariners? I don’t care what product a person is pushing, if they attempt to make me feel like a simpleton for not having it already or use the con man phrase, “Just try it for a little bit & return it if you don’t like it.” my answer is, “No, get away from me.”

Also, when I worked in the GoM I had several coworkers who used to be union but went to the non-union GoM for all kinds of reasons. From my observation it was seldom the former union members who were excited about unionizing which was an eye opener. Many of the GoM officers supervised lazy & corrupt union crews while working overseas & that turned them off to supervising union crews again. The situation is a lot more complex than, “Those dull rednecks were brainwashed by the John Birch Society.” Try again.

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Having supervised union and non union crews I don’t see a difference, everything else being equal. If you compare overseas guys working on a supply boat where being union member is mandated to the union members I have worked with there may be a difference. It is comparing apples and oranges along with different countries. What did the GOM officers say they found about the union members they worked with in the GOM? Were they better or worse than other GOM workers?

There are no Mother Jones’ down here.

BUMP… anyone just get out of the greybar hotel? is the grub any better? my opposite is going in for a 2 week bid soon and i will be back in a few months… just wondering if anyone shanked the DR. Prick in charge…? hope they will at least allow food delivery next time…

Covid 19 is a major problem for everyone. We all face travel difficulties and many of us face delays, testing, and quarantines of some type in various places.

This is a good time to be working straight time or at least 90 day hitches, crew changes are impractical in many places and must be minimized.

I am surprised that an employer would expect to pay less than full wages during an imprisonment away from home type of quarantine before or after crew change. That ought be a violation of state and federal law. But if an employer we’re going to do this, I would expect it to be one of the 21st Century plantation owners in the South.

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you said it… thats all kinds of wrong to cut guys pay… and you nailed it on who is doing it… we offered to extend our hitches to as long as they wanted as long as we just keep both gangs on equal time, doing 4 months door to door including quarantine time this hitch… the food was truly horrid last time, i hope they sort that out before my next sentence…

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If you’re working for the King of Louisiana such treatment doesn’t surprise me and you have little recourse as a serf. Your best bet, but risky, would be to make noise to Exxon since Exxon is paying the bills. In the past major drilling companies tried to pull crap like that. Example; all training required by the oil company for drillship employees was paid for by the oil company in full. That was in the contract. The drilling company decided they would only pay regular pay not extra pay to their employees attending oil company mandatory training BUT they billed the oil company for money at the extra pay rate and were pocketing the difference. Oil company found out this scam was getting known and it stopped immediately, everyone got paid extra as they were supposed to be. Most crew change expenses, transportation, accommodations etc., are borne by the contractor example Exxon, BP etc. These OSV, service suppliers and drilling companies have been making money off these scams for years. The oil companies don’t do anything because, well you know it’s just bidness unless it looks like they may suffer some bad PR.

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i am lucky to work for a company that treats us pretty well… that being said the local guyanese and trini crewon my boat were paid 25% for quarantine time because although working on my boat they are working for a local crewing company… i said they are getting screwed by their company because i know Exxon is paying full pay for these guys, well i think so anyway… i was gonna bitch to exxon about the food, powdered eggs and white rice for breakfast one morning… but i thought on of their bosses would have gone thru there by now.

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Well there you go. Trini crewing agency? Case closed. In my experience they weren’t a ball of fire but once I understood their deal I had some sympathy.

Is there an ex-employee with nothing to lose that might file complaints?

Anonymous letters to the company and Exxon might prompt a change.

Buy a few shares of Exxon and ask their shareholder relations people , as a shareholder, why Exxon is not auditing it’s subcontractors to make surevthe money Exxon is paying for subcontractor employee salaries is getting paid to them. If you don’t get a good response, try again and copy the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Barrons, etc.

If that doesn’t work, try again and also send copies to USCG, US Attorney, Trump , senators and Congressmen, Workboat, Newspapers, etc.

Of course, by posting here, you have already done an anonymous letter that the company will probably see. I hope you really are anonymous

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Have a small position in Exxon purchased in late March. My letter is sent?

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Way to go tugsailor. Exxon’s HR department could well take an interest where food was being served that was not nourishing and wholesome. Particularly if they were aware of impending bad PR if it wasn’t remedied.

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I spent more than 20 years sailing for ECO, on many seas, with my last two years supporting Exxon out of Georgetown, Guyana. Knowing first hand all the hotel/housing arrangements where vessel crews are booked, I shudder to think that I’d have to spend an extended period of time in any of them, while in a quarantine situation and at reduced pay. To change the subject, no amount of back and forth between those who have never worked for a large GOM OSV company and those that have, regarding union membership will make any difference; no change in how business and employee relations are conducted is imminent and certainly no amount of complaining by GOM OSV employees to EXXON MOBIL about powdered eggs is going anywhere. Lastly, at this very time in the US there is a dispute between the local group of a national union and the owners of a large corporation - over non-compensation related issues! A classic case where workers have stopped production due to national union pressure and the political season that’s upon us. At the end of the day I’m glad to no longer be working offshore and to be happily self-employed. To those still sailing, stay safe, always speak your mind and don’t ever give that right to someone else, especially if it costs you money. Catch ya later!

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I don’t think the oil patch mariners will ever unionize. I just don’t think the reason given in the post I responded to, that it was a failure on the part of maritime unions, is the correct reason.

If the US oil patch guys unionize, then the owners (foreign flagged) will never hire another American on them again. Lost cause, waste of conversation on here.

Nonsensical. If you are talking about the quickly dwindling US ‘oil patch’ OSV companies they are not foreign flagged. The threat of unionization causing a loss of jobs is a non starter if there are no jobs.

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Referring to the overall oil patch/offshore patch, not just OSV’s, as well as other Offshore segments.

What experience do you have with these OSVs and segments? We are always willing to learn