Union Man: Where are the jobs? | Pipe(line)Dreams - 0 views
www.pipelinedreams.org/...union-man-where-are-the-jobs
petroleum industry development oil international extractive transparency curse ghana resource
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When Ghanaians found out there was oil off their coast, a sense of excitement spread across the country. Optimistic and at times unrealistic statements from various company officials and ministries added to expectations.
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Francis M.K. Sallah is the Regional Industrial Relations Officer for the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers’ Union. Lately he has been hearing a lot about jobs, or the lack of, in the oil industry.
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The Ghanaian government says that 90% of the oil jobs should go to Ghanaians by 2020, but some people in the industry wonder why the government isn’t being more aggressive. Sallah says that right now Ghanaians could occupy more than half the posts. Welders, pipefitters, painters, maintenance people – there are plenty of skilled laborers in Ghana, so what’s keeping them from getting jobs?
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Yeah, I know a lot of jobs in the oil industry require technical skills and education. I grew up around the oil industry. My father was a petroleum engineer. But he started work as a roustabout.
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Something is preventing Ghanaians from getting work and it’s hard for me to understand. After all, the oil men who are hanging out at the hotel bar in Takoradi are mainly working class guys from Texas and Louisiana who are in Ghana via the Gulf of Mexico or E.G. (that’s Equatorial Guinea). What degrees do they have?