Something
that came to a peak of my attention yesterday was the difference
between rig workers and third party hands. This is worth a blog in
itself... because I'm somewhat angry and I want it to be stand alone
so that you can judge for yourself ;)
I'll
admit foremost that my role on this rig is not the toughest and that
I spend a great deal of the time being flown back to Perth, much more
than other members. There is also the perk of an air conditioned unit
to come to, to sit down and soak up some internet when there is no
work to be done. The one thing ruffnecks want to do more than
anything here is go back and enjoy time in Perth, but they can't have
that at a whim because they work a half and half lifestyle of three
weeks working here and three weeks in Perth down time. I on the other
hand do little work until we're drilling, not to get me wrong those
two or three days drilling are like the worst days of your life so
its more like you get all your work at once instead of a nice even
spread that keeps you on your toes. When we stop drilling, like what
will happen tomorrow, is that the other sample catcher and I, as well
as both mud loggers and one of the two well site geologists are being
sent off on the helicopter back to Perth. So we get to go home to our
families for a few days and relax.... maybe. Of course in my shoes,
although this isn't related to what other people have to go through,
I will be heading back to Perth where my family isn't and from the
next day I will be delivering newspapers probably until I head back
here... but at least I get a Subway ;P
But
that is where the perks end here and the unfairness starts reaching
back as if a like a spoilt child. Now I'm not going to go into the
opinionated debate over whether deck hands and Transocean hands who
didn't go through higher education are different in their mindsets
and their lifestyle to the guys monitoring the drilling up in that
hide away BH unit but its definitely something to consider. Some
interesting things to consider though are;
- There is a smoking station but no one from BH smokes.
- The ruffnecks are all local, from Perth whereas third party can be all over. Places include, Malaysia, India, UK, South Africa, Brazil and Nigeria as well.
- They have a relaxed attitude to work discipline, its like being in school again with the kids that asked when maths would be used in work life :/
Job
roles in comparison to work up here in the unit are plain to see...
although I do wonder what they do most of the time. The guys manning
the cranes aren't doing that all day, only when a basket or container
needs to be moved to a support vessel or to another part of the ship.
The cranes also move drill stacks from one side of the tower to the
other... but as I ask, what do they do when this isn't happening? The
drillers are in a similar position to this unit in that they sit in
their rooms watching the rig floor, the assistant driller is always
as active as the driller as he provides a service of running around
in his stead, his job should really be driller assistant. The shaker
hands have to monitor the cuttings coming off the shakers, weigh and
measure the mud viscosity and also weigh the weight of cuttings
coming off at 30 mins intervals... but all this happens when drilling
is taking place and when it isn't I have no idea what they do.
But
putting aside what they do for the times I don't see them there are
some major differences between how each of us are treated. I for one
am more like a tool. I get sent here to do one job and get given a
room of what have you in order to do that. I get paid a flat rate and
when they don't need me I'm flown off without me having any say, the
worst part of that is the being called back which is just as short
notice. The other guys here though they appear to be treated like
they mean something to somebody in charge. Firstly they get paid
three or four times as much as I and I'm not even the lowest paid of
the BH guys, because I'm not staff. Then they get better rooms.
Before I go on I must point out that these guys are part of the union
and as such they get this strange glowing treatment to work under and
at times it makes me feel like they're very pathetic. Not only are
they given two man rooms as a typical case (we're put in four man)
but they get paid a bonus if they have to be put in a four man. The
treatment was also something along the lines that Transocean will
leave two man rooms empty instead of filling them with third party.
The rooms are much better too with new seats including swivel chairs
at the desk, flat screen TVs and more space in the general floor
area.
I
am currently in a room I was in before where there was a flat screen
TV, and now that I've come back at the room is only third party the
TV appears to have been downsized to an older model, the ones that
were fashionable for middle classes in the early nineties o_O. I made
the joke that they considered a TV of that quality would blow our
tiny minds. They also get a bonus if they have to attend a fire drill
during their down time. It's also a rule apparently they don't need
to work unless the fridge has coca-cola in it which really says it
all.
This
kind of pampered life while working in a hazardous environment makes
me think of many things, but being in that work place with them and
not being treated like that makes me just think that they're, not
soft but absent minded, that they're not looking at the bigger
picture. I mean why should they expect all this in order to work? I'm
not the best person to complain considering that I don't work all the
time here and I get to go back to Perth regularly but the DD, MWD and
data engineer could complain. They work on a 3 week by 3 week time
table and they get none of those perks and they're also on a flat day
rate. But more than me... they have a locker to their name..... woah!
The
ultimate thought on this is their approach to third party. It's not
enough to have all these things to rise above third party so I was
really cheesed off that they would still have the cheek to mock us
and other things. For one thing, as previously said, they took the
better TV out of our room. But the worst part was that time I came
back to the rig and was told about a fatality on another rig, and
then as if to make it better for the people hearing it they added it
was a third party hand and the men felt more at ease because of that.
It really makes me feel sidelined when working with these people,
like in school some what.
View out the window, the lonely sea.
