EU/UK workers complained for alleged that AMEC replaced their Labors with Philippine Workforce at a lower Pay

Concern: the jacket for the Jasmine platform in the UK North Sea is towed out

Amec denies foul play over Filipino hirings

UK CONTRACTOR Amec has defended using up to 70 employees from the Philippines on the hook-up and commissioning of ConocoPhillips' Jasmine platform off the United Kingdom.

Other workers on the project raised concerns with Upstream that Filipino staff had been employed as cheap alternatives to UK or European Union labor.

They allege the Filipino staff, understood to be working a three-week on, three-week off shift rota, are receiving $900 per week after deductions with no pay for time spent onshore.

Amec confirmed it had engaged 38 Filipino personnel through the V-Ships agency to work as pipefitters and platers.

Up to 30 more and one Indian national are working as commissioning technicians for Amec subsidiary Gedi.

Amec denies the international workers are receiving lower rates than UK or EU employees and Upstream was unable to verify independently the alleged pay figures.

Pay rates and employment terms for the project have been agreed between the Unite and GMB unions and the Offshore Contractors Association (OCA), using the collective OCA pay agreement as a benchmark.

UK or EU workers in similar roles to the Filipinos — classified as Category B under the OCA agreement — would receive a minimum of £247 per day ($370) as well as onshore pay, it is understood.

Amec said the workers all have the required competency levels and added: "The total remuneration of the Filipino workers is in line with OCA rates — i.e. rates for UK or EU workers.

"All personnel engaged, whether from the UK or from overseas, are employed according with the OCA with all personnel, including commissioning, being paid competitive market rates."

Unite regional organizer Wullie Wallace said he was not aware that international workers were receiving less pay than UK workers.

The international labor element on the project represents about 5% of the 1400-strong labor force.

Amec said the employment of overseas personnel on this North Sea project was "a contingency exercise to mitigate risk... to deliver the job safely and on time for the customer".

The overseas workforce would be used in the short-term to meet peak labor requirements and the company remained committed to using UK labor, it said.

A spokesperson for the UK contractor said recruitment for the Jasmine project had entailed a "huge coordinated program of advertising, road shows and working in partnership with the GMB and Unite unions".

Both Amec and the Unite union said the campaign to recruit UK labor had been more successful than anticipated and that less international labor than expected was being used.

V–Ships were unavailable for comment by press time.

Amec said V-Ships are recognized internationally for its high standards of employment and remuneration packages.

With report from Upstream

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How did the Philippines trump China to become the fastest growing economy in Asia?

Economic expansions compared. The graph above shows the first-quarter growth in the GNP in the last five years. Illustration from Manila Standard Today

The Philippine economy grew by 7.8% in the first three months of 2013, surpassing every single analyst estimate and putting it just above China as one of Asia's fastest growing economies. The torrid growth, the best in nearly three years, is especially impressive given that exports declined 6.2% as electronics shipments collapsed.

So how is it growing so fast?

1) Infrastructure

The Philippines, like Thailand, is pursuing a massive infrastructure spending program worth around $10 billion. It covers a wide range of investments, from power plants and bridges to roads and schools. Although not all the money has been spent, the program has already created upwards of 400,000 jobs and helped win an investment grading from rating agencies, opening up the country to more international money.

2) Domestic Demand

If foreigners aren't going to buy your goods, you better hope the locals are. Domestic demand in the Philippines has been very strong, driven by private investment and consumer growth in a way that China must envy. Manufacturing growth in the country is up by 9.7% due to demand for food, appliances, communication and transport, and construction were up a whopping 32.5% in the first three months of the year. Services expanded 7%.

Filipinos preferred their products and called their Philippine made products as "genuine and Original" with better quality than imported products from china which they called them as "Lokal" or imitation with poor quality. Consumer's patronizing locally made Philippine products also boost the manufacturing sector in the country.

"Initially, this was led by infrastructure spending from the government," the National Economic and Development chief Artemio Balisacan told the Philippine Star. "By the second half of 2012, private construction started to rebound."

3) Overseas Filipino Remittance Payments

Underpinning domestic demand is a raft of Overseas Filipino remittance payments that make their way to the Philippines each year from its vast Diaspora—over $5 Billion Dollars in the first quarter of 2013. The cash transfers have long helped the Philippines pay off foreign debt and boost domestic consumption.

Can it continue?

Good news lasts only so long, and analysts have pointed to several risks. Exports may continue to fall as China slows and Europe stagnates. But the global slowdown had little impact on manufacturing so the Philippine could rely on domestic strong demand. Overseas Filipino Remittance payments, although large, are at their lowest in nearly four years, and the Philippine stock market tumbled almost 4% on Thursday, in line with the Nikkei, despite the strong economic growth figures. Manila is sticking with a 6-7% growth target for the whole of 2013.

"There's a disconnect between the economy and the valuation of the market," a Manila-based trader told Bloomberg. "While overseas investors say they like our economic fundamentals, they find valuations to be stretched."

The Philippine stock market is one of Asia's best performing bourses, up 41% in the last year, but traders are clearly worried about whether there is an asset bubble in the making. The Philippines has strengths China doesn't, but building roads and pushing up the budget deficit is not enough when it comes to a long-term strategy.

With report from QUARTZ

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