| True Transition, an organization composed of fossil fuel workers, recently released their “American Oil and Gas Workers Survey.” It provides the answers given by 1649 oil and gas workers to 38 questions about their jobs and work lives. Among their findings:
Job Security
- Over half of the survey respondents have lost their jobs at least once previously to 2020, evidence that the oil and gas industry has already been systematically reducing its workforce.
- More than half of the survey respondents lost their jobs in 2020.
- Workers expressed anxiety about not being able to do anything else outside of the oil and gas industry and a preference for work that utilized existing competencies.
Safety and Working Conditions
- Just under half of survey respondents believe that their company’s safety program was explicitly or implicitly designed to shift liability of an accident onto the worker.
- A third of survey respondents indicated that they had been ordered to engage in unsafe working practices that were in direct violation of established safety practices.
- Crew sizes are shrinking with more work expected of each worker. Smaller upstream operators appear to be under staffed intentionally to save money.
- Newer, younger hires are not being trained adequately.
For “Sidetracked: The Results of the American Oil & Gas Worker Survey:” www.truetransition.org/_files/ugd/0ad80c_fcf73b358e4746448e1b9a3c299bda5d.pdf |
