LABOR RELATIONS ISSUES AT OIL FIELDS IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

‘Industrial Relations’ is a combination of various social sciences, the cumulative effect of which is to grease the wheels of the industry and society. “Labor relations” in an organization means Good Relations between the employer and the employees. Sound labor relations can only be based on human relations, and good human relations dictate that human beings should be treated humanly which includes respect for human dignity, fair dealing and concern for human beings’ physical and social needs. The Industrial Relations Ordinance of 1969 protects the right of industrial workers to form trade unions subject to certain restrictions which seriously curtail the formation of unions and their operations. The Essential Services Maintenance Act of 1952 restricts union activity in sectors determined to be "essential" such as government services and public utilities. Similarly, industrial workers possess the right to organize and to bargain collectively but, in practice, face disabling legal impediments. Workers' right to strike is constrained by compulsory arbitration of labor disputes, "cooling off" periods, and government authority to ban strikes determined to be potentially harmful to the economy. The Pakistan oil industry is facing the same labor and trade union problems like other industries; rather they are more magnified as oil industry is a hardcore labor intensive industry especially on the exploration and drilling sites / oil rigs. The MNC exploration companies like OMV and Orient Petroleum Inc. do not have unions so as to avoid the problems which may arise in the remote areas especially of Internal Sindh and Baluchistan. They rather outsource their drilling operations to some service company like Halliburton, Shlumberger or Weatherford. The exploration companies in the public sector like OGDCL (Oil & Gas Development Company Limited) or Semi Govt. organizations like POL (Pakistan Oil Fields Limited) have strong unions which may obstruct the smooth working of the organization and can be so unreasonable in their demands at times. It so happens because of lack of caring, misinterpretation of interest, inadequacy of salaries or lack of justice and dependent labor courts of Pakistan. The following research highlights some of these problems in detail and stabs to recommend some solutions to ever existing strain between the management and the blue collar labor force at Oil Fields.